What Were the Galatians Rebuked For?

Galatia was a province of the Roman Empire rather than a city. The churches of Galatia were Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in the region of Pisidia. The churches in these cities were planted by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas during Paul’s first missionary journey (they were sent out from another city called Antioch which was in Syria). This can be read about in Acts chapters 13 and 14.

After Paul and Barnabas preached Christ in Derbe, they re-visited the other Galatian churches which they had recently planted. Their exhortation to the Galatian Christians in these churches is counsel that some of the biggest culprits in twisting the Book of Galatians do not really believe.

Acts 14:21-23: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city (i.e. Derbe), and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

This is notable for several reasons. We see Lordship salvation in Christ affirmed. Jesus is Lord; and no one can have a living faith in Him who does not submit to His Lordship. Continuing in faith in Him is not automatic after one’s conversion. A true believer in Jesus has a responsibility to continue in faith. This is necessary to enter into the kingdom of God. Doing this necessarily involves being faithful through much tribulation.

Those who say that the Book of Galatians is teaching against the necessity of submitting to Jesus’ authority, and is rather teaching unconditional eternal security, do not account for these things. Paul is not teaching in Galatians that Christians do not need to abstain from sin and be subject to God’s moral law.

Matthew 5:29-30: “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

Matthew 24:9-13: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Iniquity in Matthew 24:12 is “anomia” in the Greek text which literally means “without law.” This is exactly what those who claim that Christians are not bound to God’s moral law are advocating.

It is seen by the council of the Apostles in Acts chapter 15 that Gentile Christians were released from the Mosaic ceremonies at that time. This decision was based on the Lord accepting Cornelius without circumcision in Acts chapter 10; and the Gentiles who believed in Christ during Paul’s first missionary journey (which includes the Galatians).

The cause of the Acts 15 council is recorded in Acts 15:1: “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”

The issue at the Acts 15 council was whether Gentle Christians should be required to keep the ceremonies of Judaism (i.e. the Mosaic ceremonies). All of the ceremonial laws had been appointed to Israel as a package. Circumcision represents the whole package of ceremonial laws. The decrees related to this council which released Gentile Christians from the ceremonies of Judaism had been delivered to the churches in the region of Galatia (see Acts 16:4-6). Nevertheless, Judaizers had seduced the Galatians to go back under the Mosaic ceremonies shortly afterwards. This is what occasioned the writing of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians.

The Apostles and all the Jewish Christians themselves were still observing the Mosaic ceremonies when Galatians was written. This is further established by Acts 21:17-26. They were never released from them while the Second Temple still stood. Nevertheless, they understood that they were supposed to keep them by faith due to what they signified. They knew that they were not supposed to look to them for atonement for sin in order to earn justification through them. In the year AD 70 the Temple was destroyed and the Levitical Priesthood ceased to function. This meant that the Jewish Christians were practically released from keeping these rituals since they could not properly keep them anymore. That is why absolutely no one should try to keep the Mosaic ceremonies at all now.

Since ceremonial laws are things which are only right and holy by God’s appointment, unlike moral laws which are inherently right and holy, then He can choose to cease causing ceremonial laws to be binding whenever He sees fit. That is obviously something which He could not, and would not do, regarding moral laws. The Apostles of Christ, through the obvious implications of what God had already done among them, and through the prophecy of Scripture itself, decreed that imposing the Jewish ceremonies upon Gentiles was to cease. Yet in the 1st century, and up until today, many do not accept this God-ordained verdict. There are very bad reasons for this. These are what the Book of Galatians is dealing with.

Galatians 1:1-5 says: “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from our sins. What else would being delivered from this present evil world mean? The evil course of the world is disobedience to the true God (see Ephesians 2:1-3). This is expressed by walking according to the flesh (i.e. people following the inclinations within them to transgress God’s law).

The Galatians were not rebuked for thinking they needed to keep sin out of their lives and be faithful to Jesus’ Lordship. Paul would show in Galatians 6:2 that we are still obligated to fulfill the law of Christ. This is simply the moral law of God and Christian ordinances. Nothing said in Galatians is teaching that Christians are released from commandments and obligations.

We even read in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

We see things affirmed as the epistle to the Galatians closes. We also see in the following passage that faithful believers in Jesus are the true Israel of God rather than Jews who reject Him.

Galatians 6:7-16: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (my note- note the contrast in the next sentence- sowing to one’s flesh will indeed send a person to hell’s eternal fire). For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.”

A related passage is Titus 2:11-14: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity (my note- that’s anomia in the Greek text again- lawlessness), and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

Being in God’s grace isn’t compatible with living like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. The unconditional eternal security preachers don’t believe that, even though they might sound like it sometimes when they are preaching about other topics.

Then we read in Galatians 1:6-9: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

The Judaizers who say that we still need to keep the Mosaic ceremonies preach a false gospel. So do those who forsake the Biblical testimony for supposed revelation from an angel (which includes Mormons and Muslims). There are many false gospels with many nuances. Those who teach that God’s grace doesn’t demand anything also teach a false gospel.

Those who reference the account of the churches in Galatia being planted in Acts chapters 13 and 14 know that the authenticity of the conversion of the Galatian church members was not in doubt. This is even obvious from these verses and several other statements in Galatians. The people who claim that the Galatians were rebuked for believing we have to fulfill the moral law of God typically don’t even believe that real Christians can be removed from the grace of Christ.

The true grace of God does not demand that one do nothing. Even those who claim that it demands nothing believe that one must at least say a sinner’s prayer. God’s grace is not unconditional. The easy grace deceivers neglect that something being freely offered does not mean that it is offered unconditionally. A scholarship one receives might offer to pay for everything necessary involved in getting through school. There are still obviously terms which must be complied with, and much work which needs to be done, in order to actually succeed and graduate so that the scholarship is effective. There are terms, conditions, and labor involved in believing the Gospel of Christ unto salvation. James chapter 2 and many other passages prove that faith must work according to God’s commandments and ways in order to be a living faith which justifies a person. The authentic faith of Jesus binds to God’s commandments (see Revelation 14:11-12 along these lines).

The previously referenced Titus 2:11-14 is a Biblical definition of living by grace. It requires much diligence to say no to all ungodliness and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present evil world.

Those who twist Paul’s epistles to teach easy grace don’t look at how Paul actually preached the Gospel. Look at how the Apostle Paul summed up the Gospel he preached to lead people into God’s grace as he testified before King Agrippa.

Acts 26:19-21: “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.”

That is not the gospel which you’ll hear from the alleged experts in grace who twist little snippets from Paul’s epistles to preach easy grace.

It is foolish to think that people can be in God’s grace without repentance and works corresponding with repentance. It is also foolish to think that anyone can continue in grace which forsakes this. We even have the following exhortation in the Book of Acts to Jews who had just believed in Jesus Christ after Paul preached Him as the Jewish Messiah at the synagogue in Antioch of Galatia.

Acts 13:43: “Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.”

Coming now to Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

The Apostle Paul was not teaching Satanism. He is not saying that being justified by Christ is incompatible with thinking we need to be subject to God’s moral law. The preceding passage is obviously a rebuke to the Galatians for going back under the Mosaic ceremonies after they had been released from them (through the Acts 15 council). Though the Galatians might have protested and said (like the modern Judaizers also say) that their attempts to practice the Mosaic ceremonies were not an attempt to seek justification through them, that is exactly what they were. It could not be otherwise after the Lord has told you not to keep them anymore.

If the Mosaic ceremonies atoned for sin, then Christ would be dead in vain. They were rather intended as a schoolmaster to Christ. To think that it is necessary to continue practicing the ceremonial aspect of Judaism after Christ has come, and the Lord has told you not to do so anymore, is to make Christ of no effect to yourself.

Galatians 3:1-3: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

The Galatians really had begun in the Spirit. They had received the Holy Spirit through hearing God’s Word and diligently acting upon it. That is what we see in the right responses to the Gospel in the Book of Acts. Those who were properly baptized in the Book of Acts believed in Jesus Christ as the Messiah through the testimony of God’s Word and got baptized to demonstrate submission to Him in whatever He commands. No one was justified and given the Holy Spirit through scrupulous adherence to the Jewish ceremonies.

Many of the people who believed in Christ in Acts were already repentant and working righteousness by faith when the full revelation of the Gospel came to them. This was so because they believed the already existing Scriptures (what Christians now call the Old Testament). Even those walking in the light of God’s Word before Christ died and rose again understood well that ceremonial Judaism testified the need of atonement for sin instead of providing atonement through its practice.

Galatians chapter 3 goes on to demonstrate that the Mosaic ceremonies were not prescribed as an alternative form of justification to the faith of Abraham (which anticipated the then future redemption which Jesus Christ would purchase on the cross); and they were never intended to be an alternative form of justification.

Coming to Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

Paul isn’t saying “don’t be bound to God’s moral law.” We all are bound to God’s moral law anyways whether we consider ourselves to be or not. To claim otherwise is practically Satanism. Paul is referring to not being entangled again with the yoke of bondage to the Jewish ceremonies. Note though that this bondage was appointed by the Lord for a time. Paul had also made that clear by this point in Galatians. The Law of Moses in itself, when taken without the grace which it testified of in many ways through the coming Redeemer it pointed to, only works wrath since it testifies of man’s just condemnation. Rather than denigrating the Law of Moses, this rebukes the Jews which gloried in having the Law of Moses while rejecting the Redeemer whom it points to and bears witness of.

Galatians 5:2-7: “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?”

Faith which works by love keeps God’s commandments.

John 14:21-24: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.”

The Galatians had really begun well in faith in Christ. They had regressed to carnality as they came under ceremonial Judaism in disobedience to the Lord’s recent verdict releasing them from that. It is no wonder that the Book of Galatians at this point turns toward the severest warnings regarding carnality.

Galatians 5:11-21: “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only not liberty for an occasion to the flesh (my note- that’s the literal wording in the Greek text of the preceding phrase), but by love serve one another. For all the 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. This I say then, Walk in 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: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Galatians is ultimately an exhortation to walk by faith in Christ in order to fulfill His moral law instead of walking after the flesh. Walking after the flesh is transgressing His law while fulfilling His law is equivalent to fulfilling the morality prescribed in the Law of Moses. When the Bible speaks of Christians not being under the law, it is speaking of obedient ones who are walking under Jesus’ authority and fulfilling the righteousness of His law.

If you walk by faith in Christ and thereby fulfill the righteousness of the law, then you are not under the law’s condemnation.

Again, it is actually lawlessness to continue practicing the Jewish ceremonies after Christ has come and the Lord has decreed that they shouldn’t be practiced anymore. Doing so is also falsely testifying that the Messiah whom the ceremonies pointed to has not come or that His blood is not sufficient to atone for sin.

What is sin? 1 John 3:4 proves that it is the transgression of God’s law.

People will say: “Do it through Jesus.” Yet what is the Biblical definition of “it? Romans 8:4 proves that it is God’s law.

Romans 8:1-4: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (i.e. the Spirit of God).”

God’s moral law and Christian ordinances remain binding. It was seen in Galatians 5:19-21 that those who practice sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. The concept of being led by the Holy Spirit is really just Gnosticism when divorced from the principles revealed in the Law of Moses and in the rest of the Bible. You can’t effectively make disciples of a Master whose law is made void. Workers of lawlessness are not walking in a living faith in Christ. On the heels of Romans 8:1-4, it is emphasized that the essence of carnality is not being subject to the law of God.

Romans 8:7-8: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”