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Commentary on "Paul's Pastoral Appeal"
Day 6: Thursday, November 24, 2011 - Speaking the Truth
16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? (HCSB)
Paul had seemingly become an enemy of the churches of Galatia by telling them the truth, but in reality he was an enemy of the Legalistic and Judaizers. These words from this book may indeed have caused hurt and pain amongst the churches of Galatia, but through the words of this book they themselves could also see the great love and care that Paul had for them.
Paul was not their enemy but their greatest earthly friend and ally.
17 They are enthusiastic about you, but not for any good. Instead, they want to isolate you so you will be enthusiastic about them. (HCSB)
They refers to the Judaizers and Legalistic who are very enthusiastic about these Galatian believers because they are very fresh and new in their understanding. This makes them easy pickings for the Judaizers, and the Judaizers want to place them under the Law. They want to isolate them from other Christians, so that they will get the praise of these new converts.
Exclude (isolate) is literally "lock you up." For now, the legalists are courting the Galatians, but once they have alienated them from Jesus and from Paul, the legalists will demand that the Galatians serve them. Legalism is almost always associated with some kind of religious bondage.
Whereas the Grace of the Lord and the Freedom in Christ from the Law is freedom from bondage.
So this mysterious “locking out” that the quarterly is confused about is the locking out through Legalism of the person under the Law. While Freedom in Christ is what God brought for us on the cross through Jesus the Son. Those are some very heavy words against the Legalist, in fact the entire book of Galatians is heavily against legalism.
In conclusion it is imperative that if you are Born Again, Born From Heaven, that you remove yourself from any place where legalism abounds, for Grace and Law are not interchangeable. Grace and Law are at odds, and if you stay in a place of Legalism you will find yourself under the bondage of the Law instead of finding the Freedom that Jesus, the God-Man, brought for you on the Cross when he called out: “It is Finished!”
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised November 19, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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