The Glad Tidings

by E. J. Waggoner

“To Redeem Them That Were under the Law.”

He does it in the most practical and real way. Whom does He redeem?—“Them that were under the law.” We can not refrain from referring for a moment to the idea that some have that this expression, “to redeem them that were under the law,” has a mere local application. They would have it that it means that Christ freed the Jews from the necessity of offering sacrifices, or from any further obligation to keep the commandments. Well, suppose we take it as referring only to the Jews, and especially to those who lived at the time of His first advent; what then?—Simply this, that we shut ourselves off from any place in the plan of redemption. If it was only the Jews that were under the law, then it was only the Jews that Christ came to redeem. Ah, we do not like to be left out, when it comes to the matter of redemption! Then we must acknowledge that we are, or were before we believed, “under the law;” for Christ came to redeem none but those who were under the law. “Under the law,” as we have already seen, means condemned by the law as transgressors. Christ did “not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” But the law condemns none but those who are amenable to it, and who ought to keep it. Therefore, since Christ redeems us from the law, from its condemnation, it follows that He redeems us to a life of obedience to it.

“That We Might Receive the Adoption of Sons.”

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” 1 John 3:2. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12. This is an altogether different state from that described in the third verse as “children.” In that state we were “a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord.” Isa. 30:9. Believing on Jesus, and receiving the adoption of sons, we are described “as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.” 1 Peter 1:14. Christ said, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:8. Therefore, since He becomes our substitute, as described in the last paragraph but one, literally taking our place, not instead of us, but coming into us, and living our life in us and for us, it necessarily follows that the same law must be within our hearts when we receive the adoption of sons.

The Witness of the Spirit.

“It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” 1 John 5:6. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,” or, Father, Father. Oh, what joy and peace come with the entering of the Spirit into the heart as a permanent resident; not as a guest merely, but as sole proprietor! Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we “joy in God,” rejoicing even in tribulations, having hope that never disappoints, because “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:1-5. Then we can love even as God does; we have the same love, because we have the Divine nature. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” “He that believeth hath the witness in himself.”

“No More a Servant, but a Son.”

“Thou art no more a servant, but a son.” It will be seen that as there are two kinds of children, so there are two classes of servants. In the first part of this chapter we have the word “children” used to designate those who are not “of full age,” and have not their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb. 5:14. The promise is to them, even as it is “to all that are afar off,” but it remains to be seen if they will, by accepting it, become partakers of the divine nature, and so sons of God indeed. While thus the children of wrath, men are servants of sin, not servants of God. The Son of God is a servant, but a servant in a far different sense from the servant here referred to. The character of the servant depends on the master whom he serves. In this chapter the word “servant” invariably applies, not to servants of God, who are really sons, but to the bond-servants of sin. Between such a servant and a son there is a vast difference. The slave can not possess anything; he has no control over himself, and this is his distinguishing characteristic. The free-born son, on the contrary, has dominion over every created thing, as in the beginning, because he has the victory over himself; for “he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”

“If a Son, Then an Heir.”

When the prodigal son was wandering from the father’s house, he differed nothing from a servant, because he was a servant, doing the most menial drudgery. In that condition he came back to the old homestead, feeling that he deserved no better place than that of a servant. But the father saw him while he was yet a long way off, and ran and met him, and received him as a son, and, therefore, as an heir, although he had forfeited all right to heirship. So we have forfeited our right to be called sons, and have squandered away the inheritance; yet God receives us in Christ as sons indeed, and gives us the same rights and privileges that Christ has. Although Christ is now in heaven at the right hand of God, “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:20, 21), He has nothing that He does not share with us; for “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened [made alive] us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 2:4-6). Christ is one with us in our present suffering, that we may be one with Him in His present glory. He “hath exalted them of low degree.” Even now “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory.” 1 Sam. 2:8. No king on earth has so great possessions, nor so much actual power, as the poorest peasant who knows the Lord as his Father.

Heathen Bondage.

The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, “Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.” 1 Cor. 12:2. Even so it was with the Galatians. To them he wrote, “Not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them which by nature are no gods.” If this fact is borne in mind, it will save the reader from falling into some very common errors in opinion concerning this Epistle. The Galatians had been heathen, worshiping idols, and in bondage to the most degrading superstitions. Bear in mind that this bondage is the same as that which is spoken of in the preceding chapter,—they were “shut up” under the law. It was the very same bondage in which all unconverted persons are, for in the second and third chapters of Romans we are told that “there is no difference; for all have sinned.” The Jews themselves, who did not know the Lord by personal experience, were in the same bondage,—the bondage of sin. “Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin.” John 8:34, R. V. And “he that committeth sin is of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.” 1 Cor. 10:20. If a man is not a Christian, he is a heathen; there is no middle ground. If the Christian apostatizes, he immediately becomes a heathen. We ourselves once walked “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2), and we “were aforetime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3, R. V.). So we also were “in bondage to them which by nature are no gods.” The meaner the master, the worse the bondage. What language can depict the horror of being in bondage to corruption itself?

In Love with Bondage.

“Now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known of God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?” Is it not strange that men should be in love with chains? Christ has proclaimed “liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isa. 61:1), saying to the prisoners, “Go forth,” and to them that are in darkness, “Show yourselves” (Isa. 49:9); yet men who have heard these words, and have come forth, and have seen the light of “the Sun of Righteousness,” and have tasted the sweets of liberty, actually turn round and go back into their prison, submit to be bound with their old chains, even fondling them, and labor away at the hard treadmill of sin. Who has not had something of that experience? It is no fancy picture. It is a fact that men can come to love the most revolting things, even death itself; for Wisdom says, “All they that hate Me love death.” Prov. 8:36. In the Epistle to the Galatians we have a vivid picture of human experience.

Observing Heathen Customs.

“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.” This was an evidence of their bondage. “Ah,” says some one, “they had gone back to the old Jewish Sabbath; that was the bondage against which Paul would warn us!” How strange it is that men have such an insane hatred of the Sabbath, which the Lord Himself gave to the Jews, in common with all other people on the earth, that they will seize upon every word that they think they can turn against it, although in order to do so they must shut their eyes to all the words that are around it! Anybody who reads the Epistle to the Galatians, and thinks as he reads, must know that the Galatians were not Jews. They had been converted from heathenism. Therefore, previous to their conversion they had never had anything to do with any religious custom that was practised by the Jews. They had nothing whatever in common with the Jews. Consequently, when they turned again to the “weak and beggarly elements” to which they were willing again to be in bondage, it is evident that they were not going back to any Jewish practise. They were going back to their old heathen customs. “But were not the men who were perverting them Jews?”—Yes, they were. But remember this one thing, when you seek to turn a man away from Christ to some substitute for Christ, you can not tell where he will end. You can not make him stop just where you want him to. If a converted drunkard loses faith in Christ, he will take up his drinking habits as surely as he lives, even though the Lord may have taken the appetite away from him. So when these “false brethren”—Jewish opposers of “the truth of the Gospel” as it is in Christ—succeeded in seducing the Galatians from Christ, they could not get them to stop with Jewish ceremonies. No; they inevitably drifted back to their old heathen superstitions.

Forbidden Practises.

Read the tenth verse again, and then read Deut. 18:10: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” Now read what the Lord says to the heathen who would shield themselves from just judgment that is about to come upon them: “Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.” Isa. 47:13. Here we see that the very things to which the Galatians were returning, were forbidden by the Lord when He brought Israel out of Egypt. Now we might as well say that when God forbade these things He was warning the Israelites against keeping the Sabbath, as to say that Paul was upbraiding the Galatians for keeping it, or that he had any reference to it whatever. God forbade these things at the very time when He gave the commandment concerning Sabbath-keeping. So far back into their old ways had the Galatians gone that Paul was afraid lest all his labor on them had been in vain. They were forsaking God and returning to “the weak and beggarly elements of the world,” which no reverent person can think of as ever having had any connection with God. They were changing their glory for “that which doth not profit” (Jer. 2:11); for “the customs of the heathen are vain.”

There is just as much danger for us in this respect as there ever was for any people. Whoever trusts in himself, having any confidence whatever in the flesh, is worshiping the works of his own hands instead of God, just as truly as does any one who makes and bows down to a graven image. It is so easy for a man to trust to his own supposed shrewdness, to his ability to “take care of himself,” and to forget that the thoughts even of the wise are vain, and that there is no power but of God. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jer. 9:23, 24.

The Messenger Not Personally Affronted.

“He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God.” John 3:34. The apostle Paul was sent by God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and did not speak his own words. He was a messenger, bearing a message from God, and not from any man. The work was not his, nor any other man’s, but God’s, and he was but the humble instrument, the earthen vessel, which God had chosen as the means of carrying His glorious Gospel of grace. Therefore, Paul did not feel affronted when his message was unheeded or even rejected. “Ye have not injured me at all,” he says. He did not regret the labor that he had bestowed upon the Galatians, on his own account, as though it were so much of his time wasted; but he was fearful for them, lest his labor had been in vain as far as they were concerned. The man who from the heart can say, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake” (Ps. 115:1), can not feel personally injured if his message is not received. Whoever becomes irritated or angry when his teaching is slighted or ignored or scornfully rejected, shows either that he has forgotten that it was God’s words that he was speaking, or else that he had mingled with them or substituted for them words of his own. This is what has led to all the persecution that has disgraced the professed Christian church. Men have arisen speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves, and when their sayings and customs were not heeded, they have been offended, and have visited their vengeance on the so-called heretics. No one in all the ages has ever suffered persecution for failure to obey the commandments of God, but only for neglect of human customs and traditions. It is a grand thing always to be zealous in a good thing, but let the zeal be according to sanctified knowledge. The zealous person should frequently ask himself, Whose servant am I? If he is God’s servant, then he will be content with delivering the message that God has given him, leaving vengeance to God, to whom it belongs.

Power in Weakness.

“Ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you the first time.” From the incidental statements in this Epistle we can easily gather the history of the experience of the Galatian brethren, and of Paul’s relation to it. Having been detained in Galatia by physical weakness, he preached the Gospel “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” so that the people saw Christ crucified among them, and, accepting Him, were filled with the power and joy of the Holy Ghost. Their joy and blessedness in the Lord was testified to publicly, and they suffered much persecution in consequence; but this they counted as nothing. Paul, in spite of his unsightly appearance (compare 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 10:10), was received as God’s own messenger, because of the joyful news that he brought. So highly did they appreciate the riches of grace which he had opened up to them, that they would gladly have given their own eyes to supply his deficiency. All this is referred to in order that the Galatians may see from what they have fallen, as they consider their present barrenness, and that they may know that the apostle was disinterested in his solicitude for them. He told them the truth once, and they rejoiced in it; it is not possible that he is become their enemy because he continues to tell them the same truth.

But there is still more in these personal references. We must not imagine that Paul was pleading for personal sympathy when he referred to his afflictions, and to the great inconvenience under which he had labored. Far from it. Not for a moment did he lose sight of the purpose for which he was writing, namely, to show that “the flesh profiteth nothing,” but that everything of good is from the Holy Spirit of God. The Galatians had “begun in the Spirit.” Paul was naturally small of stature, and weak in body, and was suffering special affliction when he first met them; yet, in spite of his almost absolute helplessness, he preached the Gospel with such mighty power that none could fail to see that there was a real, although unseen, presence with him. The Gospel is not of man, but of God. It was not made known to them by the flesh, and they were not indebted to the flesh for any of the blessings that they had received. What blindness, what infatuation, then, for them to think to perfect by their own efforts that which nothing but the power of God could begin! Have we learned this lesson?

Where Is the Blessedness?

Everybody who has ever had any acquaintance with the Lord, knows that in accepting Him there is joy. It is always expected that a new convert will have a beaming countenance, and a joyful testimony. So it had been with the Galatians. But now their expressions of thanksgiving had given place to bickering and strife. See Gal. 5:15. Is it not strange that people do not expect that old Christians will have as much enthusiasm as young converts? that it is taken for granted that the first joy, and the warmth of the first love, will gradually die away? So it is, but so it should not be. That which God has against His people is this, that they have left their first love. Rev. 2:4. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18. Note that this is the path of the just, and the just are they who live by faith. When men turn from the faith, or attempt to substitute works for it, the light goes out. Jesus said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” John 15:11. He gives the oil of joy—the Holy Spirit—for mourning, and that is abiding. The life is manifested that we might have fulness of joy. 1 John 1:1-4. The fountain of life is never exhausted; the supply is never diminished. If, therefore, our light grows dim, and our joy gives place to a dull, monotonous grind, we may know that we have turned aside out of the way of life.

Desiring to Be under the Law.

“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” After what we have already had, there will be no one to come with the objection that to be under the law can not be a very deplorable condition, else the Galatians would not have desired to be under it. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov. 16:25. How many there are who love ways that everybody except themselves can see are leading them direct to death; yes, there are many who, with their eyes wide open to the consequences of their course, will persist in it, deliberately choosing “the pleasures of sin for a season,” rather than righteousness and length of days. To be “under the law” of God is to be condemned by it as a sinner chained and doomed to death, yet many millions besides the Galatians have loved the condition, and still love it. Ah, if they would only hear what it says! There is no reason why they should not hear it, for it speaks in thunder tones. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

“What Saith the Law?”

It saith, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” It speaks death to all who take pleasure in the beggarly elements of the world. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in, the book of the law to do them.” To what place shall the wicked bond-servant be cast out?—“Into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Therefore, “Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.” Mal. 4:1, 4. All who are under the law, whether they be called Jews or Gentiles, Christians or Mohammedans, are in bondage to Satan,—in the bondage of transgression and sin,—and are to be cast out. “Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin. And the bond-servant abideth not in the house forever; the son abideth forever.” Thank God, then, for “the adoption of sons.”

“Two Sons.”

Those false teachers would persuade the brethren that in turning from whole-hearted faith in Christ and trusting to works which they themselves could do, they would become children of Abraham, and so heirs of the promises. They forgot that Abraham had two sons. I myself have talked with a Jew according to the flesh, who did not know that Abraham had more than one son; and there are many Christians who seem to think that to be descended from Abraham, after the flesh, is all-sufficient to insure one a share in the promised inheritance. “They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9:8. Now of the two sons of Abraham, one was born after the flesh, and the other was by promise, born of the Spirit. “By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised.” Heb. 11:11, R. V. Hagar was an Egyptian slave. The children of a slave woman are always slaves, even though their father be a freeman; and so Hagar could bring forth children only to bondage. But long before Ishmael was born, the Lord had plainly signified to Abraham, who wished that his servant Eliezer might be his heir, that it was not a bond-servant, even though born in his house, that He had promised him, but a free-born son,—a son born of a freewoman. God has no slaves in His kingdom.

“These Are the Two Covenants.”

What are the two covenants?—The two women, Hagar and Sarah; for we read that Hagar is Mount Sinai, “which gendereth to bondage.” That is, just as Hagar could not bring forth any other kind of children than slaves, so the law, even the law that God spoke from Sinai, can not beget freemen. It can do nothing but hold them in bondage. “The law worketh wrath;” “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The same is true of the covenant from Sinai, for it consisted merely of the promise of the people to keep that law, and had, therefore, no more power to make them free than the law itself had,—no more power than they already had in their bondage. Nay, rather, it “gendered to bondage,” since their making it was simply a promise to make themselves righteous by their own works, and man in himself is “without strength.”

Consider the situation: The people were in the bondage of sin; they had no power to break their chains; but the speaking of the law made no change in their condition; it introduced no new feature. If a man is in prison for crime, you can not release him by reading the statutes to him. It was the law that put him there, and the reading of it to him only makes his captivity more painful.

“Then did not God Himself lead them into bondage?”—Not by any means; since He did not induce them to make that covenant at Sinai. Four hundred and thirty years before that time He had made a covenant with Abraham, which was sufficient for all purposes. That covenant was confirmed in Christ, and, therefore, was a covenant from above. See John 8:23. It promised righteousness as a free gift of God through faith, and it included all nations. All the miracles that God had wrought in delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage were but demonstrations of His power to deliver them and us from the bondage of sin. Yes, the deliverance from Egypt was itself a demonstration not only of God’s power, but also of His desire to lead them from the bondage of sin, that bondage in which the covenant from Sinai holds men, because Hagar, who is the covenant from Sinai, was an Egyptian. So when the people came to Sinai, God simply referred them to what He had already done, and then said, “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” Ex. 19:5. To what covenant did He refer?—Evidently to the one already in existence, His covenant with Abraham. If they would simply keep God’s covenant, that is, God’s promise,—keep the faith,—they would be a peculiar treasure unto God, for God, as the possessor of all the earth, was able to do with them all that He had promised. The fact that they in their self-sufficiency rashly took the whole responsibility upon themselves, does not prove that God led them into making that covenant, but the contrary. He was leading them out of bondage, not into it, and the apostle plainly tells us that covenant from Sinai was nothing but bondage.

Further, if the children of Israel who came out of Egypt had but walked “in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised” (Rom. 4:12), the law would never have been spoken from Sinai; “for the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 4:13). Faith justifies, makes righteous; if the people had had Abraham’s faith, they would have had the righteousness that he had; and then there would have been no occasion for the entering of the law, which was “spoken because of transgression.” The law would have been in their hearts, and they would not have needed to be awakened by its thunders to a sense of their condition. God never expected, and does not now expect, that any person can get righteousness by the law proclaimed from Sinai; and everything connected with Sinai shows it. Yet the law is truth, and must be kept. God delivered the people from Egypt, “that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws.” Ps. 105:45. We do not get life by keeping the commandments, but God gives us life in order that we may keep them.

The Two Covenants Parallel.

Note the statement which the apostle makes when speaking of the two women, Hagar and Sarah: “These are the two covenants.” So then the two covenants existed in every essential particular in the days of Abraham. Even so they do to-day; for the Scripture says now as well as then, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son.” We see then that the two covenants are not matters of time, but of condition. Let no one flatter himself that he can not be under the old covenant, because the time for that is passed. The time for that is passed only in the sense that “the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.” 1 Peter 4:3.

Difference Between the Two.

The difference is just the difference between a freewoman and a slave. Hagar’s children, no matter how many she might have had, would have been slaves, while those of Sarah would necessarily be free. So the covenant from Sinai holds all who adhere to it in bondage “under the law;” while the covenant from above gives freedom, not freedom from obedience to the law, but freedom from disobedience to it. The freedom is not found away from the law, But in the law. Christ redeems from the curse, which is the transgression of the law. He redeems us from the curse, that the blessing may come on us; and the blessing is obedience to the law. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Ps. 119:1. This blessedness is freedom. “I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy precepts.” Ps. 119:45.

The difference between the two covenants may be put briefly thus: In the covenant from Sinai we ourselves have to do with the law alone, while in the covenant from above, we have the law in Christ. In the first instance it is death to us, since the law is sharper than any two-edged sword, and we are not able to handle it without fatal results; but in the second instance we have the law “in the hand of a Mediator.” In the one case it is what we can do; in the other case it is what the Spirit of God can do. Bear in mind that there is not the slightest question in the whole Epistle to the Galatians as to whether or not the law should be kept. The only question is, How shall it be done? Is it to be our own doing, so that the reward shall not be of grace but of debt? or is it to be God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure?

Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.

“This Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” As there are the two covenants, so there are two cities to which they pertain. Jerusalem which now is pertains to the old covenant—to Mount Sinai. It will never be free, but will be replaced by the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, “which cometh down out of heaven.” Rev. 3:12; 21:1-5. It is the city for which Abraham looked, the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Heb. 11:10; Rev. 21:14. There are many who build great hopes—all their hope—on Jerusalem which now is. For such the veil remaineth “untaken away in the reading of the old testament.” 2 Cor. 3:14. They are in reality looking to Mount Sinai and the old covenant for salvation, and it is not to be found there. “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more (for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart; and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake); but ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Heb. 12:18-24.

Whoever looks to the present Jerusalem for blessings, is looking to the old covenant, to Mount Sinai, to bondage; whoever worships with his face toward the New Jerusalem, and who expects blessings only from it, is looking to the new covenant, to Mount Zion, to freedom; for “Jerusalem which is above is free.” From what is it free?—Free from sin; and since it is our mother, it begets us anew, so that we also become free from sin. Free from the law?—Yes, certainly, for the law has no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus.

But do not let anybody deceive you with vain words, telling you that you may now trample God’s law underfoot,—that law which He Himself proclaimed in such awful majesty from Sinai. Coming to Mount Sion,—to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling,—we become free from sin,—from transgression of the law. The basis of God’s throne in Zion is His law. From the throne proceed the same “lightnings and thunderings and voices” (Rev. 4:5; 11:19) as from Sinai, because the selfsame law is there. But it is “the throne of grace,” and, therefore, in spite of the thunders, we come to it boldly, assured that from God, the Judge of all, who sits upon the mercy-seat, we shall obtain mercy. Nay, more, we shall also find grace to help in time of need,—grace to help us in the hour of temptation to sin,—for out of the midst of the throne, from the slain Lamb (Rev. 5:6), flows the river of water of life, bringing to us from the heart of Christ “the law of the Spirit of life.” We drink of it, we bathe in it, and we find cleansing from all sin.

“Why didn’t the Lord bring the people directly to Mount Zion then, where they could find the law as life, and not to Mount Sinai, where it was only death?”

That is a very natural question, and one that is easily answered. It was because of their unbelief. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, it was His purpose to bring them to Mount Zion as directly as they could go. When they had crossed the Red Sea, they sang an inspired song, of which this was a part: “Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation.” “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.” Ex. 15:13, 17. If they had continued singing, they would very soon have come to Zion; for the redeemed of the Lord “come with singing unto Zion,” and everlasting joy is upon their heads. Isa. 35:10; 51:11. The dividing of the Red Sea was the proof of this. See verse 10. But they soon forgot the Lord, and murmured in unbelief. Therefore “the law was added because of transgressions.” It was their own fault—the result of their sinful unbelief—that they came to Mount Sinai instead of to Mount Zion.

Nevertheless, God did not leave Himself without witness of His faithfulness. At Mount Sinai the law was in the hand of the same Mediator, Jesus, to whom we come when we come to Zion; and from the Rock in Horeb, which is Sinai, flowed the living stream, the water of life from the heart of Christ. Ex. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4. There they had not merely the picture, but the reality, of Mount Zion. Every soul whose heart there turned to the Lord, would have beheld His unveiled glory, even as Moses did, and, being transformed by it, would have found the ministration of righteousness, instead of the ministration of condemnation. “His mercy endureth forever;” and even upon the clouds of wrath from which proceed the thunders and lightnings of the law, shines the glorious face of the Sun of Righteousness, and forms the bow of promise.

“The Son Abideth Ever.”

“Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” “The bond-servant abideth not in the house forever; the son abideth forever.” John 8:35, R. V. Here is comfort for every soul. You are a sinner, or, at best, “trying to be a Christian,” and you tremble with terror at these words, as you realize that you are in bondage,—that sin has a hold upon you, and you are bound by the cords of evil habits. Ah, you must learn not to be afraid when the Lord speaks, for He speaks peace, even though it be with a voice of thunder! The more majestic the voice, the greater the peace that He gives. Take courage! The son of the bondwoman is the flesh and its works. “Flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” But God says, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son,” and if you are willing that His will shall be done in you as it is done in heaven, He will see that the flesh and its works are cast out from you, and you will be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” That command which so frightened you is simply the voice commanding the evil spirit to depart, and to come no more into you. It speaks to you victory over every sin. Receive Christ by faith, and you have the power to become the son of God, heir of a kingdom which can not be moved, but which, with all its people, abideth forever.

“Stand Fast, Therefore.”

Where shall we stand?—“In the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” And what freedom is that?—It is the freedom of Christ Himself, whose delight was in the law of the Lord, because it was in His heart. Ps. 40:8. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8:2. We stand only by faith.

In this freedom there is no trace of bondage. It is perfect liberty. It is liberty of soul, liberty of thought, as well as liberty of action. It is not that we are simply given the ability to keep the law, but we are given the mind that finds delight in doing it. It is not that we comply with the law because we see no other way of escape from punishment; that would be galling bondage. It is from such bondage that God’s covenant releases us. No; the promise of God, when accepted, puts the mind of the Spirit into us, so that we find the highest pleasure in obedience to all the precepts of God’s Word. The soul is as free as a bird soaring above the mountain-tops. It is the glorious liberty of the children of God, who have the full range of “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of God’s universe. It is the liberty of those who do not have to be watched, but who can be trusted anywhere, since their every step is but the movement of God’s own holy law. Why be content with bondage, when such limitless freedom is yours? The prison doors are open; walk out into God’s freedom.

“Out of my shameful failure and loss,

Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come.

Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,

Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of earth’s sorrows, into Thy balm,

Out of life’s storm, and into Thy calm,

Out of distress to jubilant psalm,

Jesus, I come to Thee.

“Out of unrest and arrogant pride,

Jesus, I come. Jesus, I come.

Into Thy blessed will to abide,

Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,

Out of despair into raptures above,

Upward for aye on wings like a dove,

Jesus, I come to Thee.”

CHAPTER V.
The Spirit’s Power over the Flesh.

With freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

“Behold, I Paul say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Yea, I testify again to every man that receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace. For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love. Ye were running well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion came not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded; but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? then hath the stumbling-block of the cross been done away. I would that they which unsettle you would even cut themselves off.

“For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

“But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and such like; of the which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you; that they which practise such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.

“If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. Let us not be vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5, R. V.

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The connection between the fourth and fifth chapters of Galatians is closer than between any other two, so much so that it is difficult to see how anybody could ever have hit upon the idea of making a chapter division. One can not possibly close his reading of the fourth chapter with the thirty-first verse, but must take in the first verse of the fifth chapter, as we have done. But we have not by any means learned all from that verse that we may, and we therefore dwell upon it longer.

The Freedom That Christ Gives.

When Christ was manifest in the flesh, His work was to proclaim “deliverance to the captives,” and “to set at liberty them that are bruised.” The miracles that He performed were practical illustrations of this work, and one of the most striking may well be considered at this stage of our study.

“And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in nowise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” Luke 13:10-13.

Then when the hypocritical ruler of the synagogue complained because Jesus did this miracle on the Sabbath, He referred to how each one would loose his ox or ass from the stall, and lead him to water, and then said:—

“And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Two features in this case are worthy of special note: The woman was bound by Satan, and she had a spirit of infirmity, or absence of strength.

Now note how accurately this describes our condition before we meet Christ.

1. We are bound by Satan, “taken captive by him at his will.” “Every one that committeth sin is the bond-servant of sin” (John 8:34), and “he that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Prov. 5:22. Sin is the cord with which Satan binds us.

2. We have a spirit of infirmity, and can in nowise lift ourselves up, or free ourselves from the chains that bind us. It was when we were “without strength” that Christ died for us. Rom. 5:6. Now these two words, “without strength,” are translated from the very same word that is rendered “infirmity” in the account of the woman whom Jesus healed. She was “without strength.” To be without strength means to have no strength at all. That is our condition.

What Jesus Does for Us.

What now does Jesus do for us?—He takes the weakness, and gives us in return His strength. “We have not an High Priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” Heb. 4:15. “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matt. 8:17. He becomes all that we are, in order that we may become all that He is. He was “born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” He hath delivered us from the curse, being made a curse for us, that the blessing might come to us. Although He knew no sin, He was made to be sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Cor 5:21.

Why He Does It.

Why did Jesus make that woman free from her infirmity?—In order that she might walk at liberty. Certainly it was not in order that she might continue of her own free will to do that which before she was obliged to do. And why does He make us free from sin?—In order that we may live free from sin. On account of the weakness of our flesh, we are unable to do the righteousness of the law; therefore Christ, who is come in the flesh, and who has power over all flesh, strengthens us with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We can not tell how He does it; He alone knows how it is done, because He alone has the power; but we may know the reality of it.

Present Freedom.

Pay special attention to the words of Jesus to the woman, uttered while she was yet bound down, and unable to lift herself up: “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” “Thou art loosed,” present tense. That is just what He says to us. To every captive He has proclaimed deliverance. The woman “could in nowise lift up herself;” yet at the word of Christ she at once stood erect. She could not do it, yet she did. The things that are impossible for men are possible for God. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Ps. 145:14. Faith does not make facts; it only lays hold of them. There is not a single soul that is bowed down with the weight of sin which Satan hath bound on him, whom Christ does not lift up. Freedom is his; he has only to make use of it. Let the message be sounded far and wide. Let every soul hear it, that Christ has given deliverance to every captive. Thousands will rejoice at the news.

Christ came to restore that which was lost; He redeems us from the curse; He hath redeemed us; therefore the liberty wherewith He makes us free is the liberty that existed before the curse came. Man was made a king. It was not merely the one individual first created who was made king, but all mankind. “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam,” that is, man. Gen. 5:1, 2. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion,” etc. The dominion, we see, was given to every human being, male and female.

This dominion was universal. When God made man, He “put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him.” Heb. 2:8. The dominion was not confined to this planet; for when God crowned man with glory and honor, He set him over the works of His hands (Heb. 2:7), and we read, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands” (Heb. 1:10). This shows how free man was before the curse came; for it is self-evident that a ruler must have absolute freedom, at least as far as his dominion extends, else he is not ruler.

It is true that now we do not see all things put under man; “but we behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9, R. V.), and thus redeem every man from the curse of the lost dominion. “Crowned with glory and honor.” A crown implies kingship, and Christ’s crown is that which man had when he was set over the works of God’s hands. Accordingly, Christ (as man, mind you, in the flesh), just as He was about to ascend to heaven after the resurrection, said: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.” Matt. 28:18, 19. This indicates that the same power is given to us in Him; and this is made certain by the inspired prayer that we might know the exceeding greatness of God’s power in us who believe, “according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet;” and this prayer is followed by the statement that God has made us alive in Christ, and “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Eph. 1:18-22; 2:1-6.

Christ has tasted death for us as man, and through the cross has redeemed us from the curse. If we are crucified with Him, we are also risen with Him, and made to sit together with Him in the heavenly places, with all things under our feet. If we do not know this, it is only because we have not allowed the Spirit to reveal it to us. The eyes of our heart need to be enlightened by the Spirit, that we may know what is “the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” The exhortation to those who are dead and risen with Christ is, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Rom. 6:12. That shows that we are masters. We have authority over sin, that it shall have no dominion over us.

We have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sin (Eph. 1:7); and when He “washed us from our sins in His own blood,” He “made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” Rev. 1:5, 6. Glorious dominion! Glorious freedom! Freedom from the power of the curse, even while surrounded by it; freedom from “this present evil world,”—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life! The freedom of the universe (power in heaven and on earth), so that neither “the prince of the power of the air” nor the “rulers of the darkness of this world” can have any dominion over us! It is the freedom and authority that Christ had when He said, “Get thee hence, Satan.” And the devil immediately left Him. It is authority “over all the power of the enemy.” Luke 10:19. It is such freedom that nothing in heaven or earth can coerce us, to make us do anything against our will. God will not attempt it, for we hold our freedom from Him; and no one else can do it. It is power over the elements, so that they will serve us, instead of controlling us. We shall learn to recognize Christ and His cross in everything, so that the curse will be powerless over us, and our minds and bodies will not be subject to every change in the weather. Our health will spring forth speedily; for the life of Jesus will be manifest in our mortal flesh. Such glorious liberty no tongue or pen can describe. Believe in it as the Holy Spirit makes it known, accept it, and stand fast in it; yea, stand fast!

“Stand Fast.”

“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:6, 9. The same word that created the starry host, speaks to us, “Stand fast!” It is not a command that leaves us as helpless as before, but one which carries the performance of the act with it. Recall the cases of the lame men who were healed. John 5:5-9; Acts 3:2-8; 14:8-10. The command does the thing commanded. The heavens did not create themselves, but were brought into existence by the word of the Lord. Then let them be your teachers. “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one is lacking.” Isa. 40:26, R. V. “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” Isa. 40:29. Listen to the words, “Stand fast!”

A Question of Profit.

“If ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.” It should be understood that much more is involved than the mere rite of circumcision. The proof of this is found in the fact that this Epistle, which has so much to say about circumcision, has been preserved by the Lord for us, and contains the Gospel message for all time; yet circumcision as a rite is not a burning, living question now. Nobody is seeking to have Christians submit to the rite of circumcision in the flesh.

The question under consideration is how to obtain righteousness—salvation from sin—and the inheritance of righteousness. The fact is that it can be obtained only by faith—by receiving Christ into the heart, and allowing Him to live His life in us. Abraham had this righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ, and God gave Him circumcision as a sign of that fact. It had a peculiar significance to Abraham, serving continually to remind him of his failure, when he tried, by means of the flesh, to fulfil God’s promise. The record of it serves the same purpose for us. It signifies that “the flesh profiteth nothing,” and is not, therefore, to be depended on. The mere fact of being circumcised did not make Christ of no avail, for Paul was himself circumcised, and as a matter of expediency he had Timothy circumcised. Acts 16:1-3. But Paul did not count his circumcision nor any other external thing of any value (Phil. 3:4-7), and when it was proposed to circumcise Titus, as a thing necessary to salvation, he would not allow it (Gal 2:3-5).

That which was to be only the sign of an already-existing fact, was taken by subsequent generations as the means of establishing the fact. Circumcision, therefore, stands in this Epistle as the representative of all kinds of work done by men with a view of obtaining righteousness. Outward circumcision, in the flesh, which was what Judaizing teachers were seeking to impose on believers from among the Gentiles as the great means of salvation (see Acts 15:1), stands for the works of the flesh, as opposed to the Spirit.

Now the truth is stated that if a person does anything with the expectation of being saved by it, that is, of getting salvation by his own work, Christ profits him nothing. If Christ be not accepted as a complete Redeemer, He is not accepted at all. That is to say, if Christ be not accepted for what He is, He is rejected. He can not be other than what He is. Christ is not divided; and He does not share with any other person or thing the honor of being Saviour. Therefore it is easy to see that if any one were circumcised with a view to receiving salvation thereby, that would show absence of faith in Christ as the all-sufficient and only Saviour of mankind.

God gave circumcision as a sign of faith in Christ; the Jews perverted it into a substitute for faith. So when a Jew boasted in his circumcision, he was boasting of his own righteousness. This is shown by verse 4: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” This is no disparagement of the law, but of man’s ability to keep the law. It is the glory of the law that it is so holy, and its requirements are so great, that no man is able to attain to the perfection of it. Only in Christ is the righteousness of the law ours; and true circumcision is to worship God in Spirit, to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to put no confidence in the flesh. Phil. 3:3.

In Debt to the Law.

“I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.”

“There!” exclaims some one, “that shows that the law is a thing to be avoided; for Paul says that those who are circumcised have got to do the whole law; and he warns them not to be circumcised.”

Not quite so hasty, my friend. Stick a little more closely to the text. Read it again, and you will see that the bad thing is not the law, nor the doing of the law, but that the thing to be avoided is being a debtor to the law. Is there not a vast difference? It is a good thing to have food to eat and clothes to wear, but it is a sorrowful thing to be in debt for these necessary things. Sadder yet is it to be in debt for them, and yet to lack them.

A debtor is one who owes something. He who is in debt to the law, owes what the law demands, namely, righteousness. Therefore, whoever is in debt to the law is under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” So to attempt to get righteousness by any other means than by faith in Christ is to incur the curse of eternal debt. He is eternally in debt, for he has nothing wherewith to pay; yet the fact that he is in debt to the law,—debtor to do the whole law,—shows that he ought to do it all. How shall he do it?—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29. Let him cease trusting in himself, and receive and confess Christ in his flesh, and then the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in him, because he will not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

“The Hope of Righteousness by Faith.”

“For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” Don’t pass this verse by without reading it more than once, or you will think that it says something that it does not say. And as you read it, think of what you have already learned about the promise of the Spirit.

Don’t imagine that this verse teaches that, having the Spirit, we must wait for righteousness. Not by any means; the Spirit brings righteousness. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Rom. 8:10. When He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness. John 16:8. Whoever, therefore, receives the Spirit, has the conviction of sin, and has also the righteousness which the Spirit shows him that he lacks, and which the Spirit alone can bring.

What is the righteousness which the Spirit brings?—It is the righteousness of the law; this we know, “for we know that the law is spiritual.” Rom. 7:14.

What, then, about the “hope of righteousness,” for which we wait through the Spirit? Notice that it does not say that we through the Spirit hope for righteousness, but that we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, that is, the hope which the possession of righteousness brings. Let us briefly go over this matter in detail. It will not take long, for we have already studied it, and all that we have to do is to refresh our minds.

1. The Spirit of God is “the Holy Spirit of promise.” Not the Spirit promised, but the Spirit the possession of whom insures to us the promise of God.

2. That which God has promised to us, as children of Abraham, is an inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the earnest or pledge of this inheritance, until the purchased possession is redeemed and bestowed upon us. Eph. 1:13, 14.

3. This inheritance that is promised is the new heavens and the new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13.

4. The Spirit brings righteousness; for the Spirit is Christ’s representative, the means by which Christ Himself, who is our righteousness, comes to dwell in our hearts. John 14:16-18.

5. Therefore the hope which the Spirit brings is the hope which the possession of righteousness brings, namely, the hope of an inheritance in the kingdom of God, the earth made new.

6. The righteousness which the Spirit brings to us is the righteousness of the law of God, which by the Spirit is written in our hearts, instead of on tables of stone. Rom. 2:29; 2 Cor. 3:3.

7. The sum of the whole matter, therefore, is this, that if we will wholly distrust ourselves, and will acknowledge that in us there dwelleth no good thing, and that consequently no good thing can come from us; and so, instead of thinking ourselves so powerful that we can do the law, will allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, that thus we may be filled with the righteousness of the law, we shall have living hope dwelling in us. The hope of the Spirit—the hope of righteousness by faith—has no element of uncertainty in it; it is positive assurance. But in nothing else is there any hope. He who has not “the righteousness which is of God by faith,” has no hope whatever. Only Christ in us is “the hope of glory.”

No Power Except in Faith.

“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” The word here rendered “availeth” is the same word that is rendered “able” in Luke 13:24; Acts 15:10; 6:10. In Phil. 4:13 it is rendered “can do.” The statement, therefore, amounts to this: Circumcision is not able to do anything, neither is uncircumcision; but faith alone, which works by love, can do anything. This faith which works by love is found only in Christ Jesus.

But what is it that there is talk about doing?—Nothing else than the law of God. No man can do it, whatever his state or condition. The uncircumcised man has no power to keep the law, and circumcision has no power to enable him to do it. One may boast of his circumcision, and another may boast of his uncircumcision, but both are alike vain. By the law of faith boasting is excluded (Rom. 3:27); for since the faith of Christ alone can keep the righteousness of the law, there is no chance for us to tell what we have done.