Galatians: The Life I Now LiveSample

By now we should be used to the strength of Paul’s feeling about his opponents in Galatia! Paul loved the Galatians and wanted them to realise the danger of this false teaching. A balance between both emphases might seem wise, but Paul was no fan of balancing the truth of the gospel with the error of effort-driven godliness. 

Verses 11–12 give some insight into what the false teachers were saying about Paul. Not only were they saying Paul was not a real apostle, his message was incomplete, his gospel was imbalanced, and he was soft on sin, but they were also accusing him of being inconsistent. Apparently, they claimed that Paul preached circumcision elsewhere. 

Maybe they were confused about what happened in Jerusalem with Titus (see 2:1–5), or maybe they were confused about how he followed Jewish custom in other places in order to reach the Jews with the gospel (see 1 Cor. 9:19– 23). Paul was willing to do anything except sin to reach different people with the gospel – he would become all things to all men that by all means, he might save some! 

With those under the law he became as one under it, although he wasn’t under the law. And with those not under the law he joined them, but not in sin. He was not under the law, neither was he lawless. He remained under the law of Christ, always obediently following Christ. Paul did not preach circumcision; he preached Christ and him crucified. In contrast his opponents preached angrily against immorality with lots of duty thrown in but spoke little of Christ and the grace of God. 

To finish this section Paul makes it clear whether he feels compromise with the false teachers is an option – absolutely not! Verse 12 is the strongest verse in all of Paul’s writings. They are so keen on the knife, he wishes they would be bolder with it! It’s harsh stuff, but so clear ... compromise with error is never the way to healthy teaching for believers, nor the path to effective evangelism among the lost. Like Paul, we need to consistently follow Christ and proclaim Christ so that the gospel of Christ is as clear as possible for all.

Reflection

How do we live among people not under the law? How do we keep from either reverting to a law lifestyle (and therefore distancing ourselves from them), or becoming lawless ourselves (and therefore undermining our message)?