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I AM AFRAID OF YOU
Paul wrote these words to the members of the churches in the region of
Galatia: “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in
vain,” (Galatians 4:11). Why did he write such a thing? The verses before
this one tell us why Paul wrote as he did. Those verses say:
“But now, after
that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the
weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye
observe days, and months, and times, and years,” (Galatians 4:9-10).
What was Paul writing about? Many of the church members in Galatia had
formerly been of the Jewish faith. This involved the observance of all kinds of
laws regarding their diet, temple
rituals, priests, sacrifices and the observances of Holy Days. Paul had come to
them and preached salvation by grace in their region. Many had believed and been
converted. After Paul left there, certain men came from Jerusalem and taught
them that in order to stay saved they had to keep the Old Testament Jewish law.
Paul opposed this as being contrary to the new covenant – contrary to salvation
by grace. He called going back under the law “bondage.” So he wrote to them a
letter, being unable to visit them. Further along he wrote:
“My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I
desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt
of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”
(Galatians 4:19-21). Next he goes on to explain an allegory which pictures the
law being cast out. Then in 5:1 he wrote: “Stand fast therefore in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage.”
This last verse means that those who have been born from above – by the Holy
Spirit – are free from the “yoke of bondage:” free from the Old Testament law.
Law-keeping has no part in the biblical Christian life! Desiring to go back
under the law was what caused Paul to write, “I am afraid of you...”
The
root of law-keeping is works for salvation. Most people hope either to be saved
by something they do or to be kept saved by what they do. Paul said that is not
the case at all. He wrote: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them,” (Ephesians
2:8-10). Good works are to follow the new birth, but works are not the cause of
any part of salvation. Salvation is by grace: by the
undeserved favor of God toward sinners.
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