Galatians study notes

All passages from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.

Introduction

How should we read Paul’s words in Galatians?

Strict constructionist view: What did Paul literally write?

Benefit: Stick to what is written.

Problem: We may not know what was meant by what is written based on preconceptions or understanding different from the time or setting of the writing.

Who is communicating with whom in Galatians?

Communication involves sender, code, message, medium and receiver:

• Sender: Paul
• Code: Greek text of Galatians, including any “shortcodes” such as repeated phrases “works of [the] law,” “freewoman,” “bondwoman” and “under [the] law.” In software development, functions, shortcodes and other methods can truncate a string of commands into a short statement of software code. However, such shorthand software methods work best when the intent, i.e. the longer set of instructions, is understood by the programmer and software.
• Message: It depends on what information the receiver takes to decoding the message, reading it in English today or hearing it in Greek in a first-century synagogue.
• Medium: Parchment or papyrus, many fragmented with age and having “generations” of manuscripts.
• Receiver
  • Galatian congregations, originally.
    • How did the congregations understand the message in Greek?
    • How did conditions in first-century synagogues scattered among the nations affect the understanding of the letter?
  • Us, today.
    • How do we understand the message today, based on the translations we read?
    • How do we reconcile any difference between the way we understand it and the way the original receivers did in the original language?

Originalist view: What did Paul mean by what he wrote?

Benefit: It would explain the meaning of the puzzling statements.

Problem: It requires knowing what Paul knew, when he knew it and his opinions about his knowledge.

Conclusions of this view, based on the assumption that Paul:

• Viewed the Law as “loss” (e.g. the common view of Phil. 3:2–12): The “Law of Moses,” except for eternal “moral” elements such as the 10 Commandments, has been replaced by the “Law of Christ,” which abrogated the first law because it was defective and didn’t work.
• Viewed the Law as part of the “gospel”: The “Law of Moses” are the words of God given to Moses for a people He promised to Abraham He would call out of the world to himself, and by doing so bless the world. The “Law of Christ,” based on Yeshua’s own words in Matt. 5:17–19, was a reiteration and restoration of the Law of Moses to the “original intent” of God’s words. Yeshua is the the mercy of God fully revealed in the work of the Messiah. Paul as a faithful servant of the Messiah was trying to strip away any path to God that wasn’t fully rooted in Yeshua’s being the Lamb of the Law.

Progressive or liberal view

View: Paul used language and illustrations about bondage and freedom amid references to the Law by name and practices proscribed in it, such as circumcision, as well as barriers to non-Jewish new believers in Galatia. What human rights are being infringed by some barrier, and what is that barrier?

Benefit: The question gets to the heart of a thread of teachings throughout the Apostolic Writings: God’s breaking down barriers between Himself and the world

Problem: It requires a sound logic about the connection between God’s goal and the actual barriers to that goal.

Conclusions of this view, based on the assumption that Paul:

• Viewed the Law as bondage to the freedom of believers in God through Messiah: The “old covenant” was the Law of Moses, and it was for ancient Israel. The “new covenant” was the Law of Christ and is better-suited to reach the world because it doesn’t require new believers to learn and follow the Law of Moses beyond its fundamental “moral” teachings.
• Viewed the religious beliefs about God’s plan for salvation as the barrier: Building upon Messiah Yeshua’s anger against spiritual leaders who were creating barriers between God and the people (e.g., Matt 21:12–13; cf. Isa. 56:7; Jer 7:11), apostle Paul in his letters against those who were advocating Yeshua-plus-interpreted-Torah justification before God. In other words, these folks wanted new believers in Yeshua to be converted to a sect of Judaism to be right before God, based on the idea of some sages that only full Israelites would be in the Kingdom of God in the resurrection.

What is the ‘new covenant’?

Jeremiah 31:31–34

This passage encapsulates the promise of a “new covenant” with the House of Israel and the House of Ya’akov (Jacob). The passage advocates equality among believers in being able to “know the LORD” (Jer. 31:34).¹

This was a chief mission of the Messiah:

““This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3 NASB95)

“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26 NASB95)

Ezekiel 36:25–27

This passage was also explored in Hallel Fellowship’s recap on a study over Acts of the Apostles in 2010.²

Focus: Cleansing from ‘filthiness’ and idols

This cleansing was anticipated in the first century.³ Pioneering rabbi Akiva (c. A.D. 50–135) is quoted in the Mishnah, in a discussion of the right attitude toward sin and forgiveness at Yom haKippurim:

“ ‘Happy are you, O Israel. Before whom are you made clean, and who makes you clean? It is your Father who is in heaven, as it says, “And I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean” (Ezek. 36:25). And it says, “O Lord, the hope of Israel” (Jer. 17:13) — Just as the immersion pool cleans the unclean, so the Holy One, blessed be He, clean Israel.’ ”

b.Yoma 8:9 G–I

Hope in Jer. 17:13 is translated from מִקְוֶה miqveh (Strong’s H4723a), which literally means “a collection.” A purification miqveh, then, is a collection of water. The connection with water fits with the description of the LORD in the same verse as “the fountain of living water.”

In the Dead Sea Scrolls “Manual of Discipline” or “Community Rule”:

“The spirit encourages … glorious purity combined with visceral hatred of impurity in its every guise”

1QS 4.5⁴

Focus: Giving a “new heart” and a “new spirit within”

Focus: Replacing a “heart of stone” with a “heart of flesh”

Heart = mind.

Just before Israel entered the Land, God promised after the exiles forced upon the people because of their disobedience He would perform heart surgery on the people to be able to follow His instruction (Deut. 29:22–30:6):

“Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.” (Deut. 30:6)

Commentators have noted that God’s promise in Ezekiel involves a much more radical change of heart than trimming off a portion to dedicate the existing heart, i.e. way of thinking of the people.⁵

Focus: Replacing our spirit with “my Spirit”

Spirit = deepest emotions.

Romans 11:25–27

“ ‘For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM,” [Isa. 59:20–21] “WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS” [Isa. 27:9].’ ” (Rom. 11:25–27)

The context for Romans 11 is Paul’s exasperation over the widespread Jewish rejection of Yeshua as Messiah.

The theme of Rom. 11:25–36 is a “mystery” (Rom. 11:25), namely the God’s unfolding plan throughout history for the salvation of the world through a people named Israel.

Mystery: Salvation of “all Israel” (Rom. 11:26) involves the “fullness of the nations” coming into Israel (Rom. 11:25).

πλήρωµα τῶν ἐθνῶν pleroma ton ethnon “fullness of the nations” relates to filling to the full, rather than completing some specific number.⁶

In Rom. 11:12 the “failure” (ἥττηµα hettema G2275, “to defeat, succumb, decrease”) of Jews because of their unbelief in Yeshua as the Messiah is contrasted with their “fulfillment” (πλήρωµα pleroma), i.e. “victory” or “rise,” when “jealousy” for God’s work among the nations through faith in Yeshua and God’s Spirit coaxes a return to God’s plan.

Some have connected pleroma ton ethnon to the מלא־הגוים m’lo-hagoim “multitude of nations” of Ya’akov’s prophetic blessing for his grandson Ephraim⁷:

“ ‘he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations’ ” (Gen. 48:19)

מלא mala means “to be full” and also is used to mean “to be complete.”⁸

The Septuagint translation renders the phrase as πλῆθος ἐθνῶν plethos ethnon. Plethos is how “the nations” is rendered in Acts 15:12, which is part of the Jerusalem Council discussion of how non-Jews would be integrated into the Commonwealth of Israel.

Mystery: Non-Jewish believers must value the original calling of the blood lineage of Israel (Rom. 11:28–29).

At Sinai, God called Israel as “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:5–6).He later admonished Israel to be “a light to the nations” (Isa. 42:6).

The implication is that God’s “mystery” was being accomplished at that time largely by non-Jews.⁹

The apostle Peter noted that the priesthood and light-bearer roles of Israel were to be performed by all believers in Israel.

But you are A CHOSEN RACE [Isa. 43:20f; Deut. 10:15], A royal PRIESTHOOD [Isa. 61:6; 66:21], A HOLY NATION [Ex. 19:6; Deut. 7:6], A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION [Ex. 19:5; Deut. 4:20; 14:2], so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE [Hos. 1:10], but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD [Hos. 2:23]; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

1Pet. 2:9–10 NASB95

However, Paul warns that non-Jews should not think God has formed a “new Israel,” because His gifts to and calling of Israel are “irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29).

Paul’s lesson here should be a warning for “replacement theology.”

The quotations in Rom. 11:26–27 come from the Septuagint Greek translation of the TaNaK¹⁰ and are different from the standard Hebrew Masoretic Text.

“and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob” (Isa. 59:20 NASB)

The rendering in the MT is בְּיַעֲקֹב פֶשַׁע ולְשָׁבֵי v’leshbey pesah b’ya’aqob, literally “and to turning-back-ones of iniquity in Yakob.”This matches Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls, dated to the first or second centuries B.C.: “to those in Jacob who turn from transgression” (Isa 59:20 The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible¹¹).

“and he will turn impiety away from Iakob” (Isa. 59:20 New English Translation of the Septuagint¹²)

Adam Clarke noted that instead of the rendering in the MT, translations in other Semitic languages follow the Septuagint understanding.¹³

The Syriac translation of the TaNaK uses והשיב v’heshib “and He will turn back.” The Chaldean translation, with the same meaning, is ולהשיב ulehashib.

The Peshitta Aramaic translation of Rom. 11:26 has יַעקֻוב מֵן עַולֹא ונַהפֵך v’nafekh ’alo meyn ya’aqub “and He will turn away iniquity from Ya’akub.”

The Peshitta uses a different verb from the one in the MT Isaiah — הָפַךְ hafakh (Strong’s H2015), “to turn, overturn,” instead of the MT’s שׁוּב shuv (H7725), “to turn back.” The Peshitta agrees with the Septuagint, Syriac and Chaldean translations.

The messages of the LORD’s call for His people to turn back and promising to turn them back are throughout Isaiah and the other prophetic writings.

Hebrews 8:7–13

The Heb. 8:7–13 passage has the longest direct quotation — Jer. 31:31–34 LXX — from the TaNaK in the Apostolic Scriptures.¹⁴ The teaching on the “new covenant” in Jer. 31:31–34 is also reiterated in truncated form in Heb. 10:14–18.

Quotations from the TaNaKh are used throughout the Apostolic Scriptures to show that what the prophets foretold was being brought to reality in their times.

The Letter to the Hebrews was written to first-century believers in the years likely before the Temple in Yerushalayim was destroyed in A.D. 70. In the decade or so before that, the increasing revolts by Jewish groups foreshadowed the Roman crackdown, as historian Flavius Josephus detailed in his writings.

Theme of Hebrews: Yeshua’s death and resurrection brought a shift in the priesthood (Heb. 7:1–8:6), from Levitical to Melchizedekian.¹⁵

Heb. 9:1–10:18 with reverence details many aspects of the priesthood, tabernacle and its operation.

The rhetorical style of the letter uses “how much more” to show that while the Earthly version was patterned after God’s design, the atonement — restored connection with God — brought through it was temporary because of the human nature of the Levitical priesthood. Yeshua provided permanent atonement.

Theme of Hebrews: Would Yeshua’s permanent atonement be enough when the temple in Yerushalayim was destroyed?

For believers both Jew and non-Jew whose whole religious orientation in the Land and elsewhere was toward the temple for the calendar and appointed times, particularly the three pilgrimage festivals.

What’s the ‘first covenant’?

English translations often have “first covenant” in Heb. 8:7, with some versions noting by italics that “covenant” is not in the Greek phrase Εἰ γὰρ ἡ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄµεµπτος ei gar e prote ekeine en amemptos “if indeed the first had been faultless.”

Many commentators assume it relates to διαθήκης diathekes (G1242 “covenant”) from Heb. 8:6.However, πρώτη prote (“first”) in Heb. 8:7 is feminine and must agree grammatically with one of the feminine nouns in the discussion¹⁶:

• skene “tabernacle”
• diatheke “covenant”
• leitourgia “ministry”
• hierosune “priesthood”

Yet, the “main point” of the discussion is stated in v. 1: Yeshua is the high priest, ministering from the throne of God by His earthly life of perfect obedience to God’s instructions and offering of His life as God’s Anointed One to take the punishment of death due mankind for living outside God’s rules for the universe.

God had found fault with the earthly, sinful priesthood (Heb. 7:27; 8:4), so the first priesthood was what needed to be replaced, not the Law that enacted that priesthood.

There are translation issues in Heb. 8:13: “He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” Pepalaioken in an active verb, meaning “to declare old,” rather than passive “to become old.”¹⁷

Consider:

• Messiah Yeshua said in Matt. 5:17–19 that “heaven and Earth” would pass away before the slightest part of the Torah would pass away.
• The topic of Hebrews 8 is a better priesthood.The existing priesthood was largely corrupt.Human priests were prone to be sinful and had to atone for their own sins before the people’s.
• The temple in Yerushalayim was about to be destroyed along with the city.
• God had destroyed the tabernacle and temple, creating an “abomination of desolation,” several times before (e.g., Shiloh and Yerushalayim under Babylon and Seleucid Greece) because of corruption of the priesthood and leadership.

Therefore, Heb. 8:7–13 seems to be communicating that the first priesthood’s being “declared old” and “ready to disappear” started first with the greater glory (Haggai 2:9) departing (Luke 13:35; cp. Matt 23:38; cf. Hag 1:4, 9) and then the temple itself being torn down by Rome.

2Corinthians 3: New vs. old covenant; ‘ministry of death/condemnation’ vs. ‘ministry of righteousness’

What is the point of the chapter?

Some in Corinth, or influencing believers there, were questioning by what authority Paul and his companions were proclaiming this “gospel” (2Cor. 3:1), which he called later in the letter the “ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2Cor 5:18–19).

Uses of the word ministry come from διακονία (diakonia, Strong’s lexicon No. G1248):

• “service, ministering, especially of those who execute the commands of others”¹⁸
• “service rendered in an intermediary capacity, mediation, assignment”¹⁹

The leadership of Israel were operating under God’s command to condemn anyone who violated God’s commands, statutes and ordinances. Depending on the severity of the offense in God’s eyes, penalties ranged from fines to exile to indentured servitude to death.

The Levitical priesthood were operating under God’s command to present offerings to Him for the people, including the leadership and priesthood themselves, as part of atonement, i.e. reconciliation, between the people and God. As detailed in Hebrews 7–10, the Levitical priesthood’s reconciliation had to be performed repeatedly, first for themselves and then for the people.

Paul summed up 2Corinthians 3 these ways:

• Continuing the illustration of the veil and what was behind it (2Cor. 4:3–6).
• Clarifying that “lifting the veil” to see God’s true message of condemnation, reconciliation and righteousness required him to “have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating [literally, creating a trap with] the word of God” (2Cor. 4:2). Commentator David Stern notes that defenses against accusations of deceptive tactics and Scripture interpretation are scattered throughout this letter (2Cor. 1:12–24; 2:17; 3:1; 7:2).²⁰

Paul also made a lengthy defense of his service to the congregation in Thessalonica (1Thessalonians 2:1–3:5).

In a letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that “accurately handling [literally, cutting straight] the word of truth” (2Timothy 2:15) was necessary to gaining God’s approval as one of His servants.

Peter also defended Paul’s teaching of as accurately reflecting the Scriptures (2Pet. 3:14–16).

• “found by Him in peace” — Be reconciled with God by via Yeshua’s “ministry of reconciliation.”
• “spotless and blameless” — Be declared righteous via Yeshua’s “ministry of righteousness,” which is a continual activity of God’s Spirit under the New Covenant, as foretold by Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Moses.
• “untaught” — Opponents to Paul’s “good news” were untaught [ἀµαθής amathes, G0261] concerning the Scriptures. They either don’t know or can’t see the “torah” (lesson) in the Torah. Lukas described Peter and the apostle Yokhanan as “uneducated [ἀγράµµατος agrammatos, G0062] and untrained [ἰδιώτης idiotes, G2399]” (Acts 4:13 NASB).
• “unstable” — The opposite of στηρίζω (sterizo, G4741), or “steady,” “established.”²¹ Without a proper understanding of God’s instructions, one cannot be “established” in the correct path for life, especially in knowing how to be reconciled with God.
  • Proverbs 1:7: One must know that the LORD will condemn him to learn what how to live a life that is truly complete and not just filled with one diversion after the next. Some atheists say they live a grounded and complete life, because they are at peace with themselves and others. However, by denying the LORD, they are denying the reality of the Creator. By denying the Creator, they are denying the Creator’s order, even though they have adopted morality derived from knowledge of the Creator in eons past.
  • Isaiah 11:2: This prophecy points to the Messiah having the Spirit of the LORD on Him, and that Spirit will “blow” through Him to propel His disciples toward dread of the LORD’s condemnation and understanding of the Messiah’s “ministry of reconciliation.”
  • Acts 9:31: “So the church [literally, “assembly,” from ἐκκλησία ekklesia, G1577] throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.” Dread of God’s condemnation for unlawful behavior and comfort of His mercy through the Spirit’s changing our hearts to live lawfully are key drivers of the reconciliation of Israel and the world to God “Fear of the Lord” comes from knowing that the LORD will condemn sinners. “Comfort of the Holy Spirit” comes from having been declared righteous before God via the “ministry of reconciliation” of Messiah and moving though life toward ever more lawful behavior by the “ministry of righteousness.”

The foundation for the services of condemnation, reconciliation and righteousness are in “letters engraved on stone” (2Cor. 3:7).

Does the ‘Old Testament’ need to be removed?

Is the “old covenant” (2Cor. 3:7) the body of Scripture commonly called the “Old Testament,” a veil to the glory of God that needed to be “removed” or “abolished” in Christ (2Cor. 3:14)?

This is the only reference to “old covenant” in the Bible. The next known use of the term is by Melito of Sardis in the late second century.²²

Paul said that he and his companions were “servants/ministers of a new covenant” (2Cor. 3:6). Apostolic references to “new covenant” quote from Jer. 31:31–34, which along with Ezek. 36:25–27 point to God’s Spirit writing His laws. Those laws are detailed in the “Old Testament” on the hearts of believers.

The “ministry of death” (2Cor. 3:7), also called the “ministry of condemnation” (2Cor. 3:9), was “in letters carved in stone” (2Cor. 3:7).

The Ten Commandments in the Sinai covenant (Exodus 20) were engraved on stone tablets, so they seem to be at the heart of the “ministry of condemnation. Here are examples of violations of the “Big Ten” that could lead to death sentences:

• Adulterating marriages could lead to death penalties for the man, woman or both.
• Coveting — literally, “intensely desiring” — wasn’t actionable by civil authority until it led to violation of the other commandments.
• Testifying falsely would garner the perjurer whatever punishment was coming to the accused, which would be death for a capital crime.

Paul wrote that the “ministry of condemnation” “came in glory” (2Cor. 3:7). Moshe’s face was shining with the glory of God when he came down from Sinai with the tablets of the testimony, so much so that high priest Aharon and the people couldn’t take it (Ex. 34:29–35).

“Shine” in Exodus passage is translated from קרן (qaran, H7160), the verb form of a noun commonly used in Scripture for “horn.” It seems to convey that being in God’s Presence dwelling in another person is as uncomfortable as being gored by an animal with horns.Moshe could remove the veil in the presence of God, so is the promise of our eventual dwelling in the presence of God (1Corinthians 13).

Most of the references to “fading” in 2Corinthians 3 come from καταργέω katargeo (G2673), which can also mean “abolish” and “come to an end.”

Paul wrote in his letter to the congregation in Rome that faith in Messiah didn’t katargeo the Law, rather it upheld it (Rom. 3:11). Later in that letter, he wrote that the Law was “holy,” “righteous,” “good” and “spiritual” (Rom. 7:12–14).²³

Under the Sinai covenant, including the “pattern” for the tabernacle shown on the mountain, sinners came back to shalom with God — atonement — via a ministry in the tabernacle/temple that included offerings. Offerings would be “sent up” for sin regularly, culminating on Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement). The human priesthood would lapse in following God’s instructions at best and rebel against them at worst. Pious priests would have to seek atonement for their own shortcomings before seeking reconciliation for the people. Wicked priests could prompt God to reject their ministry, potentially creating further division between God and His people (Isa. 1:14; cp. Isa. 1:11–20).

So, the “new covenant” truly is new and not a “restored” or “renewed” Sinai covenant.

There is linguistic support for translating the phrase from Jer. 31:31 as “renewed covenant.” חדש khadash in חדשה ברית b’rit khadashah can mean “to renew” or “to restore” as well as “to make fresh.” God’s laws are part of the Sinai and kadashah covenants, so in the latter, the God’s Spirit would take the “heart” of the Sinai covenant and put it into the hearts of the people of God.

However, the b’rit khadash removes the “veil” between God and the one who trusts in Yeshua as Salvation from condemnation before God.

Thus, the “ministry of condemnation” of the first covenant ended with Yeshua’s death and resurrection.²⁴ The “ministry of righteousness” began with and was sealed by His blood. It was foreshadowed by Moshe’s reflecting the glory of God after periods of unveiled communication with Him and needing to cover his face to protect the people from the condemnation of being in the presence of God’s glory without a veil.

However, we don’t want to “renew” the “ministry of condemnation,” which had its temporary relief through God’s system of offerings via a sinful human priesthood.

Galatians 1–3

Galatians in general and Galatians 2–3 in particular frequently are used to prove that observing the Law isn’t required for believers. However, the discussion of “justification” and “works of [the] law” in this passage reinforces that the real problem was excluding “justified” believers in God and His Messiah from membership in Israel, whose constitution is the Law of God.

Galatians 1:6–9: What is the ‘different gospel’ addressed in this letter?

One commentator said “many interpreters and lay leaders consider Galatians to be Paul’s magnum opus on Christians’ divorce from the Torah of Moses” because of a lack of understanding of the “spiritual and social dynamics” of this early group of believers.²⁵ This view has been changing in the past three decades with a theological movement known as the New Perspective of Paul, in which “Paul’s view of the Law [is] far more moderate that is traditionally believed.”²⁶

Here are questions raised by Gal. 1:6–9:

• How were the Galatian congregations “deserting” God “for a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6)?
• What is this “different gospel”? What “gospel” did the Galatians receive? How is is the “different gospel” “not another” (Gal. 1:7)? How is it a “distort[ion of] the gospel of Messiah” (Gal. 1:7)?
• How is it “contrary to what [they] received” (Gal. 1:9)?

Before we explore the “gospel contrary to what we have preached to you,” we will explore the what Paul actually said to the Galatian congregations.

What was Paul’s historical contact with the congregations in the Galatian region?

Paul’s first journey (Acts 12:25–14:28) went through Galatia (starting in Acts 13:13), which included stops in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, ending in Derbe in Cilicia. (Galatia is in central modern-day Turkey.) The entourage then retraced the route.

In Pisidian Antioch, Paul makes the first of his Shabbat synagogue appeals from the Scriptures that Yeshua is the Messiah and that faith in the work of Messiah was essential to peace with God (Acts 13:14–52).

Paul ended with the heart of his gospel:

“ ‘Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: “Behold, you scoffers [MT: בגוים ba-goyim, “of the nations” or “heathen”; LXX: καταφρονηταί katafronetai, “despisers”], and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you” [Hab. 1:5].’ ”

Acts 13:38–41 NASB95

Paul wasn’t shooting from the hip when he quoted Habakuk 1:5 in his recorded Shabbat message in Pisidian Antioch. A study of Habakuk 1–2 shows that the ancient warning at the time of the rebuilding of the temple in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah also applied to Paul’s time and to “that day,” a common phrase referring to the final Day of the LORD.

The amazing thing the LORD was going to do was “rais[e] up the Chaldeans” (Hab. 1:6) to “march throughout the earth” (Hab. 1:6).

Babylon was one of the empires God foretold would control the Land of Israel (Daniel 2). Babylon conquered the Kingdom of Yehudah (Judah) and destroyed the House of God that King Shlomo (Solomon) built.

Habakkuk expressed his dismay to the LORD over Babylon’s victory (Hab. 1:13). Babylon attributed its successes to its own strength (Hab. 1:11, 16).

Yet the prophet trusted that the LORD would reveal the reason for this shocking correction of Israel (Hab. 2:1).

Indeed, the LORD revealed in a “vision … for the appointed time [למועד חזון khazon la-moeyd]” (Hab. 2:3) that Babylon would “become plunder” for the nations it plundered (Hab. 2:7). This happened with the return of the exiles of Yehudah under the subsequent empire, Medo-Persia (Jeremiah 25).

The future fulfillment of Hab. 2:14 is part of the promise of the “new covenant” to the houses of Ya’akov, which was exiled under Assyria, and Yehudah (Jer. 31:34).

But there is a hint of a bigger fulfillment seen in clearly latter-days prophecies, such as Zechariah 14. The apostle Yokhanan was given this promise again, seen in Rev. 11:15; 15:4.

“Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed; and He will reign forever and ever.’ ” (Rev. 11:15)

Yet the LORD revealed to Habakkuk in this vision that complete trust in His plan was necessary (Hab. 2:3–4).

• proud — עפל aphal, H6075a, “swollen,” used in the Bible to fat around the testicles for sacrifices (“offal”) or hemorroids.
• soul — נפשׁ nephesh, H5315. Adam became a “living soul” חיה נפשׁ nephesh khayah (Gen. 2:7) when God breathed into him חיים נשׁמת neshmat khayim, or breath that is alive.
• not right — ישׁר–לא lo-yashar, 3474 [448c], “to be smooth, straight, or right.”
• righteous — צדיק tsaddiq, H6662, from a verb for “to be straight, hard, perfect.”
• faith — אמונה emunah, H0530, “firmness, steadfastness,” from אמן (aman, H539), which is derived amen, meaning “truly.”

Hab. 2:3–4 is the fundamental verse, quoted in Romans 1, for the Protestant reformation. Just as the authorities of Israel weren’t heeding the warning about corruption, idolatry and hindering belief in God, bringing the desolation of the the temple, so too were the leaders at the time of Paul and of Martin Luther.

The healing of the breech between God and man comes from the death — by God’s hand, not man’s — and resurrection of Yeshua.

Those who God calls to hear this good news must decide to trust it:

• Let the old “heart,” or motivations, and old “spirit,” or influencer of the motivations, “die” (Eph. 2:1–10). God forgives and forgets what the “old man” (KJV) or “old self” (NASB) did, counting Yeshua’s life in his stead.
• Actively let God create a new “heart,” or motivations, and a new “spirit,” influencer of motivations, in this case God’s Spirit.

‘Old man’ becomes ‘new man’

Paul later expounded on this transformation from “old man” to “new man” at length in his letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Romans.

Ephesians 2–4

The “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15) is not just a personal transformation, but a transformation of a group of believers, declaring righteous both those who hadn’t originally been part of the calling of Israel at Sinai (Exodus 19) and those who were, via their ancestors.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (Eph. 1:3–4)

A “commonwealth of Israel” (Eph. 2:12) that would include natural and naturalized citizens always was God’s plan, expressed to and through:

• Khevah (Eve; Gen. 3:15)
• Abraham (Gen. 18:18; 22:18; 26:4)
• the “mixed multitude” of the Exodus (Ex. 12:38)
• Shlomo (Solomon): The temple in Yerushalayim would be the focal point of anyone of the nations who was led to call on the LORD (1Kings 8:41–52).
• Yeshiyahu (Isaiah): The temple would be a “house of prayer for all nations,” Isa. 56:7; cf. Mark 11:17).
• Yetziq’el (Ezekiel): God would make the houses of Yehudah and Yisrael and their “companions” part of one group of believers again (Ezek. 37:16–19).
• The “new covenant”: Part of the “new covenant” is the work of God’s Spirit transforms the world so that “they will all know Me” (Jer. 31:31–34). This parallels Yeshua prayer to the Father “that they may know You,” truly making believers part of the people of God who wouldn’t have to fear death as their final end, i.e. they would receive eternal life (John 17:3).

‘Works of law’: Does the ‘new man’ leave the Torah behind?

Some point to Eph. 2:8–9 as evidence that a believer in Messiah Yeshua should leave the Torah behind when living in the Spirit as a “new man.”

ἔργων νόµου ergon nomou, literally, “works of law” (Rom. 3:20, 28; Gal. 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10), has been commonly interpreted as “observing the Law,” i.e. the Torah. This phrase is a key part of the New Perspective of Paul (NPP), which explores how ergon nomou was understood in the first century.

In short, a Hebrew phrase התורה מעשה ma’aseh ha-torah, or “deed of the law,” is found in the writings that accompanied copies of Scripture in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The document, catalogued as 4QMMT, contains long list of behaviors considered necessary for members of the community. Given the context of ergon nomou in Galatians and Romans, NPP scholars wonder whether Paul was addressing a common rabbinical concept of the time, i.e. conditions of membership, as discussed in Acts 15 and 21. We’ll explore this more when we study Galatians 2.

As seen in Habakuk 1–2, which Paul draws from in his synagogue message at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13) and in his letters to Rome (Rom. 1:16–17) and Galatia (Gal. 3:11), God declares believers righteous through their initial and everyday trust, i.e. “faith,” in Him (Gen. 15:6).

That declaration of righteousness is something God gives us when He puts in us a new “spirit” — His Spirit — as part of the “new covenant,” replacing our “spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). Otherwise, we are “dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).

Therefore, “salvation” is something God declares out of His mercy on us in our intractable condition living “in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3), and “good works” are what mankind was originally intended to do and what the “new man” is enabled to do (Eph. 2:10). The apostle Ya’akov (James) explains that these “good works” are the outgrowth of faith (James 2:14).

The message of Ephesians 2 was aptly summarized by a Christian songwriter, using the common biblical object lessons of a tree, seed, roots and fruit:

I’ve found salvation’s a tree. And faith’s what you use for seed. But grace is the start of the roots. And good deeds are just fruit.

Apologetix. “Ephesians.” Wordplay. Wesscott Marketing, 2006.

Messiah taught that in parables related to trees, seeds, roots and fruit:

• Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:3–23; Luke 8:4–15)
• One parable of a fig tree (Luke 13:6–9; cf. Jer. 24:1–10)
• In a warning about false prophets (Matt. 7:15–20). Some may claim that evil people can still do good deeds, i.e. “bear good fruit.” However, the deception described here is outwardly righteous but inwardly wicked.

Apostle Paul later in the letter to Galatia details the resulting behavior of someone freed from God’s wrath, i.e. being “under [the] law” (ὑπὸ νόµον hupo nomon; Rom. 6:14–15; 1Cor. 9:20; Gal. 3:23; 4:4–5, 21; 5:18), to “walk according to the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Gal. 5:22–24 NASB95

Those who are outwardly righteous but inwardly wicked will eventually show what’s really inside them.

We will explore hupo nomon when we get to Galatians 3, but note for now:

• Paul contrasted “deeds of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19–21) with “fruits of the Spirit.”
• Paul connected one of the two greatest commandments — the “fulfilled” “whole law” of “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18; cf. Matt. 7:12; 22:40; Rom. 13:8, 10; Gal. 6:2) — with “freedom” and “walk[ing] by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:13–15).
• Therefore, the true believer “fulfills” the Torah — πληρόω pleroo (G4137) is also used in Matt. 5:17 — by “walking” according to after being freed from the Torah’s ultimate punishment — the wrath of God — and being given “new life” via Messiah and the Spirit.

Some see Yeshua’s “abolishing” of “the barrier of the dividing wall” in Eph. 2:14–15 as meaning the Law was done away with “in His flesh,” i.e. at His execution.

“Bringing near” those “far off” from God, i.e. non-Jews, always was part of God’s plan and included His Law.²⁷

Moshe told the people of Israel:

“ ‘See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. 6 So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?’ ”

Deut. 4:5–7; cf. Ex. 12:48; Isa. 56:3

Apostle Ya’akov, after quoting Amos 9:11 and Jer. 12:15 about the “rest of mankind seek[ing] the LORD,” said:

“ ‘Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble [literally, “harass”] those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. 21 For [because] Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.’ ”

Acts 15:19–21

Apostle Ya’akov, as was Paul in this passage from Ephesians and throughout Galatians, was addressing whether circumcision was required of believers coming to God from the nations through His Messiah (Acts 15:1, 5). The elders decided to “break down the wall of separation” between Jewish and non-Jewish believers by not requiring circumcision to become a member of the body of Messiah. The four required behaviors for such new believers were outward behaviors and weren’t directly listed among the “fruits of the Spirit.” Clearly, these four requirements weren’t the spiritual stopping point. The preaching of “Moses,” i.e. the Torah, was part of the God’s plan for spiritual growth.

Colossians 2–3

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him — a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

Col. 3:5–11 NASB95

This follows a passage some say abrogates the Law God gave to Moshe:

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Col. 2:13–15 NASB95

This will be a topic of a later discussion, but it is important to note the lesson discussed previously from 2Corinthians 3 about the “ministry of death/condemnation.” Rebelling against God’s law, specifically the 10 Commandments brought the death penalty.

The promise of the “new covenant” was a permanent declaration of righteousness before God by the work of Messiah Yeshua and continued “walking” toward righteousness by the work of God’s Spirit.

Romans 5–7

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Messiah Yeshua have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Messiah Yeshua.

Rom. 6:1–11 NASB95, with “Messiah Yeshua” for “Christ Jesus”

This comes after a discussion in Romans 5 of the Law of God bringing death to the rebellious and the distress expressed in Romans 7 of the person who knows there is a correct way to walk but can’t walk that way.

Paul’s second journey (Acts 15:36–18:22) followed the Jerusalem Council with the intent to “visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are [literally, “How are they holding on?”]” (Acts 15:36) and to “delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe” (Acts 16:4).

But after reaching Lystra in Galatia, the entourage was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia” (Acts 16:6), with the Spirit providing Paul a vision and other encouragement to proceed directly to Macedonia (Acts 16:7–10).

In Lystra, Paul met Timothy (Greek: Timotheos, “truth of God”), son of a Jewish mother and “Greek” father. Paul “circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek” (Acts 16:3; context Acts 16:1–3). By contrast, “not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised” (Gal. 2:3).

Indeed, the decrees of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem included:

• The gospel would go to “circumcised” and “uncircumcised.”
• All that was required of the uncircumcised to become members of the congregation.

Galatians 1:10–2:10: Paul defends his message as having come from God and not from man

Paul twice leveled a warning of excommunication for proclaiming gospel, or “good news,” opposed to what the congregations had “received” (Gal. 1:8–9).

Gal. 2:11–3:5: Paul rebukes Peter and the Galatians for siding with justification by ‘works of law’ rather than by ‘faith’

But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

Gal. 2:3

As we’ve discussed before, Paul circumcised Timothy, whose mother was a Jew and his father a Greek, because not to do so would have been a distraction from the message.

Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Acts 16:3

Timothy was considered a Jew because his mother was. His father hadn’t circumcised him. An uncircumcised Jew in a synagogue would have been a lightning rod for criticism, as seen in Acts 21 when Paul was accused of not following the Torah and of bringing an uncircumcised person into the temple.

Paul hadn’t circumcised Titus because physical circumcision in the first century A.D. was only slightly less abhorrent than it was for Jews in the second century B.C. during the Maccabean revolt against the Antiochus IV, who outlawed the observance of the Torah.

Roman historian Tacitus wrote that proselytes to Judaism adopt “sinister and revolting” practices, noting that circumcision shows Jews are “different from others.”

…the very first lesson they learn is to despise the gods, shed all feelings of patriotism, and consider parents, children and brothers as readily expendable

The Histories, V.5.2²⁸

Liberty from the Law?

But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Messiah Yeshua, in order to bring us into bondage.

Gal. 2:4

Some assert that this is “liberty” from the Law. In considering what is meant by “liberty which we have in Messiah Yeshua,” we must keep in mind:

First, one is able to “walk in open areas” or “walk freely” (Psa. 119:45²⁹) by seeking God’s Law, His instructions for life (Psa. 119:41–48). The apostle Ya’akov (James) called the Law, the “perfect law of liberty.”

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. … So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.

James 1:25; 2:12

Second, Messiah Yeshua said that He would not change one bit of the Law, and the Law would last until a point we have not yet reached (Matt. 5:17–19).

Why does ‘works of law’ show up so much in Galatians and Romans?

The Greek phrase ἔργων νόµου ergon nomou, literally translated as “works of law,” shows up eight times in the Apostolic Scriptures, twice in Romans and six times in Galatians.

In Romans 3, Paul explains the relationship between the Law and righteousness before God.

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law [ἐν τῷ νόµῳ en to nomou, or “in the law”], so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua Messiah for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Messiah Yeshua; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation³⁰ in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Yeshua. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of goyim also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. 31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

Rom. 3:19–31

Justify is translated from δικαιόω dikaioō (Strong’s lexicon No. G1344), which means “to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be”³¹ or “to render a favorable verdict, vindicate”³². Dikaioō is used 49 times in the Septuagint, mostly to translate the Hebrew verb צדק tsadeq/tsadoq (H6663), which has the same meaning. From צדק comes צדיק tsadiq, or “saint.” In the related Semitic language of Arabic, sadaqua means “speak the truth.³³

Therefore, God can truly call us righteous because He has declared us righteous because of Yeshua.

As he does in Galatians 3, Paul illustrates from the life of Abraham in Romans 4 that “justification” comes through “faith” in God and not from prior observance of the Torah.

Paul singles out observance of the commandment to circumcise sons of Israel on the eighth day as a key accepted “marker” of membership in the people of God.

In Galatians 2 during a dressing down of Cephas (Peter) for separating himself from non-Jewish believers, Paul reminds him that God has one standard for righteousness before Him for all believers.

“We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Messiah Yeshua, even we have believed in Messiah Yeshua, so that we may be justified by faith in Messiah and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

Gal. 2:15–16

This is not a discussion of to observe the Law or not to observe the Law. It’s about justification, or being declared righteous in God’s eyes. The room in which Paul confronted Peter was full of believers, both Jew and non-Jew.

So, this is a matter of who is declared a part of Israel and who isn’t. Open membership in the commonwealth of Israel is underscored with the illustration from the life of Abraham that follows in Galatians 3. All who believe God, similarly to how Abraham did, become citizens of Israel.

In Galatians 3, Paul turns his rebuke to Galatian believers who seem to have also bought into this justification-by-works-of-law teaching.

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Yeshua Messiah was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Gal. 3:1–5

Galatians 3:6–29: Abraham is the example of someone God declared ‘righteous’ for his ‘faith’ in God

Are goyim believers in Messiah part of the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai? There are some who claim that non-Jews who believe in God’s Messiah, Yeshua, are not expected to follow the Torah as God’s instructions for Israel. Rather, they are obligated only to follow the “Noachide laws,” said to be roughly outlined in Acts 15, and “invited” to follow the rest of the Torah.

In his illustration from the life for Abraham, Paul asserts that the blessing of Abraham, which includes the formation of Israel and righteousness before God by faith in Him, is for the whole world.

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “all the nations will be blessed in you” [Gen. 12:3]. 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Gal. 3:8–9

Messiah’s herald, Yokhanan (John), also said that blood relationship wasn’t as important to God as a heart and mind relationship.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father‘; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matt 3:7–12; cf. Luke 3:5–9

Messianic scholar J.K. McKee points out that the promise of the New Covenant is for God’s Spirit to put the whole Torah in the hearts and minds of all believers. Because this is a work of the Spirit, observance of the Torah is neither a mandatory obligation nor an optional invitation. McKee calls it a “supernatural compulsion.”

Men and women, who are guided by God’s grace and mercy to no longer commit sin and violate His Law, have placed at the very center of their being Yeshua the Messiah exalted and reigning as King. They recognize that salvation is by grace, but that actions reflective of such salvation are to be required (Ephesians 2:8-10). In establishing or upholding the Law of God in their lives, they desire to accomplish the good works that He requires of us, particularly actions of kindness and mercy (James 1:27). Obeying the Lord is neither an optional invitation nor a mandated obligation, it is a supernatural compulsion enacted by the perfecting activity of the Holy Spirit on the human soul. The more we obey the Lord and submit ourselves to His will, the more we are able to experience His presence and communion in our hearts, being conformed to the image of Yeshua (Romans 8:29), and become repelled by not only the mention of sin, but even the presence of it (cf. Ephesians 5:3).

J.K. McKee. “One Law for All.” TNN Online: Aug. 12, 2010. p. 43.

“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM’ [Deut. 27:26].” (Gal. 3:10)

Recap of Galatians 1–3

What is the “gospel” Paul is preaching and the wicked “different gospel” opposing that message? (Gal. 1:1–9)?

Is the Torah “bondage” for believers in Yeshua as God’s Messiah?

But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Messiah Yeshua, in order to bring us into bondage.

Gal. 2:4

Messianic scholar J.K. McKee asks, “Did God free Ancient Israel from Egyptian slavery — only to later bring them into bondage to His Law at Mount Sinai?”³⁴

God said He took them out of slavery not into it.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before Me.”

Exod. 20:2–3; cf. Deut. 5:6–7

Here are two reasons God gives in the 10 Commandments for worshipping Him only:

1. He is the savior of Israel. He saved Israel from His wrath that came down on Mitsraim (Egypt) (Ex. 20:2).
2. He is the creator of the heavens and the Earth (Ex. 20:8–11). Through Abraham and Israel, all inhabitants of Earth were blessed with the arrival of God’s Anointed, Yeshua, as God’s reconciliation between God and man.

Because of God’s promise to “all the nations of the Earth” through Abraham and Yeshua, the nations have the invitation to join the people of God, the Commonwealth of Israel.

God said defined “life” as following His Law and “death” as rebelling against or disregarding it:

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Yitskhak [Isaac], and Ya’akov [Jacob], to give them.”

Deut. 30:19–20

“Slavery” of one’s mind and actions comes from “sin” and not from God’s Law, according to the Messiah and His apostles. The Master said sinning makes one a “slave” to sin.

Yeshua answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:34–36

Apostle Yokhanan (John) defined sin as disregarding law.

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

1John 3:4

Apostle Paul wrote that changing from being a “slave of sin” to a “slave of righteousness” involves a change of heart, which is a change of motivation to become obedient to God.

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Rom. 6:17–18

So God’s goal for Israel is freedom from the “chains” of sin, and sin is rebellion against or disregarding God’s Law.

What did Abraham have “credited to him as righteousness”? Was it Abraham’s sealing the covenant with God with circumcision (Gen. 17:9–14)? Sarai told Abraham to have a child with Hagar when he was 85, and Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 (Gen. 16:3, 15). When Abraham was 99, God told him to circumcise his children as a seal of the covenant regarding God’s multiplying of his offspring. One who wasn’t circumcised was to be “cut off from his people” for breaking the covenant (Gen. 17:1–14). The LORD then told Abraham that God’s special blessing would come through a son born to 90-year-old, past-childbearing-years Sarai, whom God renamed Sarah (Gen. 17:15–22; 18:1–15).

Was it Abraham’s belief in God’s promise to give him many descendants from his body, though he had no natural heirs (Gen. 15:2–6; 17:15–22)? Apostles Ya’akov and Paul quoted Gen. 15:6 as a foundational example of who God considers righteous (Rom 4:3, 9, 22; Gal. 3:6; Jas. 2:23). Paul used the example to show God’s calculus of righteousness: faith/belief must precede any action related to that belief. Ya’akov cites the example to show that faith-prompted action must follow faith for belief in God to not be “dead.”

In reflecting on the teaching of all Scripture on the roles of faith and obedience in the lives of the people of God, McKee observes, “In minimizing the Torah, Christians today remain largely uninformed as to the world view and ideology of Yeshua and the Apostles, and have instead, unfortunately, often created an artificial world view of their own selectivity.”³⁵

As we’ve noted in the introduction to Galatians, one’s worldview and ideology can color one’s interpretation of Paul’s writings about the Law. If one believes that the Law, or large portions of it deemed “ceremonial,” is obsolete, then that is how one will “twist” Paul’s writing.

One theologian interpreted Gal. 4:3 this way:

“For a Gentile Christian to submit to the Mosaic Law would be like going back under the elementary pagan teachings of the world, which they left behind when they became Christians….”³

Ben Witherington III. Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Eerdmans: 1998. p. 282. Quoted by McKee, Galatians for the Practical Messianic, p. 108.

This twisting of Paul’s points was happening in the first century, as apostle Peter noted:

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught³⁶ and unstable³⁷ distort³⁸, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled³⁹ men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua Messiah. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

2Pet. 3:14–18

In railing against the “different gospel” in chapter 1 and his rebuking of apostle Peter and the Galatian congregations in Galatians 2–3, apostle Paul demonstrated, particularly through the life of Abraham, that faith in Yeshua’s death and resurrection was the source of salvation for both Jews and former gentiles in Israel, the people of God.

Peter “stood condemned” (Gal. 2:11) — literally, “was self-condemned”⁴⁰ — because he was going against the ruling of the Jerusalem Council that believers didn’t have to become circumcised before God would consider them righteous before Him, i.e. making them part of the people of God (Acts 15).

Galatians 4

Galatians 4, with its discussion of freedom from being “under [the] law” and not of the Jerusalem related to the flesh, is often cited by those who argue that observing the Torah is a backward step for believers in Messiah Yeshua.

However, considering what Paul already wrote in chapters 1 through 3 and the parallel discussion in Romans 5–7, his point in this chapter is that both Jews and non-Jews are in the same situation without God’s method of salvation, which isn’t God’s Law. Yet God’s goal for humanity long-term is heart-led obedience to His Law.

Is the Torah only for ‘immature’ believers in Messiah Yeshua?

Is there a connection between the child heir of Gal. 4:1–3 and the “slaves of sin” in Rom. 6:16–22?

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Rom. 6:20

Is being a “slave of sin” a desirable situation and goal?

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law [ὑπὸ νόµον hupo nomon] but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death⁴¹, or of obedience resulting in righteousness⁴²? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Rom. 6:15–18

Sin, or disobeying God’s Law, results in death from the wrath of God on “that day” against unrighteousness in the world. Obedience to the Law results in righteousness. Yet we became “slaves of righteousness” because God considered us righteous by faith in His Messiah and had mercy on us.

Is being a “slave of sin” God’s goal for mankind? Immaturity and maturity of believers is discussed in Hebrews 5, just after an explanation of how Yeshua can be a high priest like Melchizedek though not a descendant of Aaron.

Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant⁴³. 14 But solid food is for the mature⁴⁴, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. 1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

Heb. 5:11–6:2

Paul contrasted bottle-fed believers with Spirit-sipping mature believers when chastising the Corinth congregation for one-upping each other over who was their teacher.

But a natural⁴⁵ man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually⁴⁶ appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For “Who has known the mind of the LORD, that he will instruct Him?” [Isa. 40:13 LXX] But we have the mind of Christ. 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants [νηπίοις] in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

1Cor. 2:14–3:4

God’s promise of the new covenant was to give the houses of Israel and Yehudah His Law in their hearts (Jer. 31:31–34), giving them “a new heart and put a new spirit” (Ezek. 36:26). When this happens, true knowledge of the LORD will be pervasive (Jer. 31:34). When the heir takes control of his inheritance, he must now put his training into actions, to make the lessons “come alive.”

Is observance of the Torah ‘bondage under the elemental things of the world’ (Gal. 4:3)?

Paul is addressing believers who had not known God, i.e. hadn’t heard the Torah (Gal. 4:8–9). Note that Paul is including himself in this by saying, “while we were children.”

If Paul later wrote that God’s law is “holy” and “spiritual” (Rom. 7:12, 14) in a parallel lesson to Galatians about “the flesh” “selling” us into “bondage to sin,” then does he mean that Torah is the one that keeps us in bondage to the world away from God’s knowing us and our knowing Him?

Know and known here are translated from the Greek root verb γνω gno, from which we get the term gnosticism, used to refer to various methods pagans, Jews and Christians used to gain knowledge of the divine available to select few able to wield those tools.

The Pharisee and Essene sects of Judaism weaved the Greek concept of Fate into their theology.⁴⁷ The Jewish apologist and philosopher Philo described the breastplate of the high priest as having “the three elements” — air, water and earth — as communicating messages to the priest.⁴⁸ Jewish mysticism of the first centuries A.D. was later collected, particularly in the Zohar.

All the world — Jew and non-Jew — were subject to the “powers and principalities of the air,” and thus were under the curse of God’s wrath against those powers, as detailed in the Torah, Prophets and Writings.

Galatians 5

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Galatians 6

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Recap of Galatians

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1. See “Acts of the Apostles thematic recap,” Hallel Fellowship, June 19, 2010. ↩︎
2. “Acts of the Apostles thematic recap.” ↩︎
3. J.K. McKee. “What is the New Covenant?” TNNOnline.net, 2008. p. 7. ↩︎
4. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 7, quoting Michael Wise, Martin Abreg Jr. and Edward Cook, trans., The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996), p. 130. ↩︎
5. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 8, quoting Christopher J.H. Wright, The Message of Ezekiel (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2001), p. 196. ↩︎
6. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 11. ↩︎
7. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 11. ↩︎
8. Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) (Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2000). Francis Brown, S.R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (Scribe, Daina Beach, Fla.). ↩︎
9. HALOT and BDB. ↩︎
10. TaNaKh: Torah, Prophets and Writings, i.e. the Hebrew Scriptures ↩︎
11. Martin Abegg, Jr., Peter Flint and Eugene Ulrich. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1999). ↩︎
12. Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, eds. A New English Translation Of The Septuagint (Oxford University Press, 2007). ↩︎
13. Adam Clarke. Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Public domain, 1810–1826. ↩︎
14. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 15. ↩︎
15. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 16. ↩︎
16. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 21. ↩︎
17. Thayer, Joseph H. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. ↩︎
18. Bauer, W., F. W. Danker, F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich, eds. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. ↩︎
19. Stern, David H. “2^nd Cor. 4:1–2.” Jewish New Testament Commentary: a Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament. Clarksville, Md: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1992. ↩︎
20. Thomas, Robert L., ed. Greek Dictionary of the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance. La Habra: Lockman Foundation, 1981. ↩︎
21. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 30. ↩︎
22. The New International Version Study Bible underscores the glory of the Sinai covenant in a footnote for 2Cor. 3:7. However, on on the “fading though it was” reference to the glory of the Sinai covenant, the commentators said, “The purposed of the veil was to prevent the Israelites from seeing the fading of the glory.” On 2Cor. 3:8, the commentators add that the “veil,” “prevent[ed] them [modern Jews] from recognizing the temporary and inadequate character of the old covenant.” ↩︎
23. McKee, “What is the New Covenant?” p. 35. ↩︎
24. J.K. McKee. Galatians for the Practical Messianic, Second Edition. TNN Press, 2007. p. 1. ↩︎
25. McKee, Galatians for the Practical Messianic, p. 1. ↩︎
26. J.K. McKee “Ephesians 2:14–15.” The New Testament Validates Torah. TNN Press, 2008. ↩︎