They Which Trouble You Gal. 5:1-12 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In Gal 5:1-12 Paul warned the Galatians against they which trouble you. He warned them about following those who would put them back under the law – he said that whoever these are, they trouble you – what was the trouble? They which trouble you:
Cut off your liberty in Christ – Gal 5:1 – when you get saved, the two things that make you free are the truth [Jn 8:32] and the Son of God [Jn 8:36]. Notice the work of the truth in Rom 6:17. Notice the work of the Son of God in Gal 2:20. When a person gets saved, he is a new creature in Christ. Sin still dwells in his body [Rom 7:17] but now he can have victory over sin because of Jesus Christ who resides inside of him [Col 1:27]. When he reckons himself dead to sin [Rom 6:11] and yields his members servants to righteousness [Rom 6:19], sin shall not have dominion over him [Rom 6:14]. That’s because Christ has made him free from sin [Rom 6:22]. Because Christ “hath made us free” we do not need a set of rules to keep in order to live righteously. We live righteously by yielding to the righteousness of Jesus Christ in us and no standard is higher than his righteousness. Putting the Galatians back under the law did nothing beneficial for them; it just cut them off from this liberty.
Conceal spiritual circumcision – Gal 5:2 – God made a covenant with Abraham by physical circumcision and any man child not circumcised was to be cut off from the covenant [Gen 17:10, 14]. In Acts 15:1-11 the disciples concluded that circumcision was not necessary for salvation. The reason is that when a person gets saved, he is spiritually circumcised and the body of the sins of his flesh is removed from his soul forever [Col 2:11-12]. The legalists in Galatia were not preaching spiritual circumcision which makes physical circumcision totally unnecessary.
Put you in debt – Gal 5:3 – once a person decides that he needs to keep the law and be circumcised in order to be saved, then he is also responsible to do everything else the law requires [Gal 3:10; Jas 2:10]. The trouble is that when he is under the law, he has put himself under a curse and he is guilty of all the law when he offends in one point. This is the heavy yoke of bondage.
Cause you to fall from grace – Gal 5:4 – falling from grace is not about losing your salvation after you get saved [like some folks teach]. Falling from grace is about trying to get saved by keeping the law. If you are justified by the faith of Christ then you are free from the law [Rom 7:1-4, 8:2]. If you are justified by the law then you are not saved [Gal 2:16] and you are fallen from the grace by which you are saved [Eph 2:8-9].
Offer you no hope – Gal 5:5 – Christians are saved by hope [Rom 8:24-25]; we have the hope of completed redemption in Jesus Christ at his return. A man under the law, on the other hand, works with no assurance of salvation whatsoever. A man without Christ literally has no hope [Eph 2:12].
Substitute works for faith – Gal 5:6 – In New Testament salvation it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not [Rom 4:8-13]. A man is saved by faith in Jesus Christ [Acts 16:30-31]. To be circumcised for salvation is to attempt to be justified by the works of the law and a man cannot be saved by the works of the law [Gal 2:16].
Lead you to reject the truth – Gal 5:7 – When a man preaches that you have to keep the law to be saved then he is leading you to disobey the gospel [Rom 9:30-10:4].
Persuade you against Jesus – Gal 5:8 – Jesus called us to believe on him; these that hindered the gospel told the Galatians that by keeping the law they could be saved contrary to the gospel [Jn 3:3-7; 6:28-29; Rom 3:28].
Destroy the whole gospel – Gal 5:9 – By teaching circumcision and the law as necessary parts of the gospel those who were troubling the Galatians were mixing works with faith. The end result would be “another gospel” of works salvation, exclusively, like mainline denominations today. This is the process of introducing a little leaven which leavens the whole lump.
Will be judged for this – Gal 5:10 – Paul was confident that the Galatians would not go back under the law; nevertheless, he reminded them that God would judge this person or these persons who were trying to destroy their faith [as in 1 Tim 1:18-20].
Are avoiding the offence of the cross – Gal 5:11 – the cross is offensive and the preaching of the cross is foolishness [1 Cor 1:18, 23]. A man who doesn’t want to look like a fool will change the gospel to make it more palatable to lost religious folks and to keep from bearing reproach [1 Tim 4:10; Heb 13:13].
Should be cut off – Gal 5:12 – Paul wants this guy or these guys stopped so that they can’t continue to destroy the truth of the gospel and the work he had begun in Galatia [Gal 1:8-9; Tit 1:10-11].