Two decades after Jesus commissioned His disciples to make disciples, teaching them to obey all that He commanded, Paul was not developing “Pauline theology” that could be scrutinized in seminaries. Rather, he was making disciples, teaching them to obey all of Jesus’ commandments. During his few weeks in Thessalonica, Paul instructed the believers how “to walk and please God,” teaching them “commandments…by the authority of the Lord Jesus” (4:1-2). Those words are nothing less than a reference to Jesus’ Great Commission, which the Head of the Church has never rescinded. As Paul wrote, the will of God is our sanctification, that is, our ever-increasing holiness. To be sanctified means to be set apart for holy use. It is for that reason that God gives His children the Holy Spirit (4:8).

In today’s reading, Paul first turns his attention to one area of holiness that was apparently needful for the Gentile Thessalonians, namely, sexual purity. Focusing on the sin of adultery, he specifically addresses men, warning that God is the avenger against one who “defrauds his brother in the matter” (4:6). The adulterer steals what belongs to another. Take note that Paul was teaching the commandments of Christ, who, as you know, warned that adultery, either in flesh or mind, is a damning sin (see Matt. 5:27-30).

Technically, the man who commits fornication (having a sexual relationship as an unmarried person), is also potentially “defrauding his brother in the matter” by virtue that he is having sex with someone else’s future wife. God wants His people to be sexually pure in every regard, and Paul warns in his letters that immoral people will not inherit God’s kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5).

Next, Paul turns his attention to “love of the brethren,” something that God Himself teaches all true believers by the indwelling Spirit (4:9), but not something that happens without their cooperation (4:10). That love is expressed, of course, by meeting pressing needs, but it is also expressed by working hard so as not to burden others with our pressing needs (4:11-12)! This was apparently something that was also needful for Paul to say to the Thessalonians, as we’ll read in his second letter to them, “If anyone will not work, neither let him eat” (2 Thes. 3:10). Generous Christians should be careful not to foster laziness.

Apparently, since Paul’s departure from Thessalonica, some believers had died, and the surviving Christians, many of whom were previously ignorant pagans, were grieving without hope. Paul explains basic Christian doctrine regarding life after death and the return of Jesus. Those who have died in Christ are better spoken of as having “fallen asleep” (4:13-14) because their physical bodies will awaken at the return of Jesus, being resurrected then.

This does not mean, however, that those who have died in Christ are in a state of unconsciousness or suspended animation. Their spirits are very much alive and with Christ. In fact, when He returns, they will return with Him (4:14). At that same time, their bodies will be resurrected from the earth and will rise to “the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (4:17). Their resurrected bodies will then be rejoined with their spirits.

Those who are alive when Jesus returns will rise to meet Him in the clouds, and they will also receive new, imperishable bodies. Paul obviously believed that he, as well as the Thessalonians, could be alive for that event. He would later write to the Corinthians:

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-53).

As Christians, we naturally grieve when a brother or sister in Christ dies. But we don’t grieve for them; we grieve for ourselves. Moreover, we don’t grieve as the world does, that is, without hope. Rather, we know that our absence from those who have fallen asleep in Christ is only temporary (4:18). Comforting truths indeed!

You may recall from what we’ve previously read in Acts and Galatians that Paul did not begin his apostolic ministry the day he was born again. He did, however, begin to preach the gospel, first in the synagogues of Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and later in Syria and Cilicia (Acts 9:20-30, 11:25-26; Gal 1:21). It wasn’t until at least 12 years after his conversion that he was called as an apostle and departed on his first missionary journey. The office of apostle is the highest office to which one can be called (see 1 Cor. 12:28). All of this is to say that Paul was promoted as he was found faithful.

Paul wrote in our reading today that he, Timothy and Silvanus had been “approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel” and that God had “examined” their hearts (2:4). In the original Greek, the words approved and examined are the same words and could well be translated “tested.” In other words, Paul was saying that God had tested him, along with Timothy and Silvanus, before He entrusted them with their current ministry.

More specifically, Paul indicates that God had tested their motives, because the Lord wants ministers who are motivated by love—for Him and humanity. It is likely that Paul’s antagonists in Thessalonica were accusing him and his apostolic band of being motivated by something else, and so it seems Paul was intent on proving the purity of their motives. It was obvious to any who closely observed them in Thessalonica that they weren’t preaching to gain money, because they supported themselves with their own hands (2:9). It was also obvious that they weren’t preaching to gain glory from people, as they came to Thessalonica running from those who hated them, and they found more of the same when they arrived. Nor could anyone rightly accuse them of any other evil motivation, as they behaved “devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly” (2:10).

Clearly, Paul and his companions were motivated by love, as they treated the new believers in Thessalonica with gentle care, like “a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children” (2:7), and “were exhorting and imploring each one…as a father would his own children” (2:11). That sounds like love expressed in genuine discipleship!

And just in case any of the Thessalonian believers might be tempted to think Paul and his companions’ affections were just a temporary act, Paul reminded them that they were not absent by choice, but by circumstances beyond their control, and they were longing to be reunited. In fact, Paul had attempted to return more than once to Thessalonica, but was thwarted by Satan (2:18). To him, the Thessalonian believers were his “hope…joy…crown of exaltation” and “glory” (2:19-20). This is definitely the “love chapter” of 1 Thessalonians. How blessed are young believers who are under the loving care of those who understand that the word minister means “servant” and not “sovereign.”

Paul also mentions that the Thessalonians were suffering at the hands of their countrymen just as he and his apostolic companions had suffered at the hands of the Jews in Judea. This was par for the course and was not reason to doubt. Years later, Paul would write, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12).

Finally, Paul declared that wrath had come upon the Jews in Judea “to the utmost” (2:16). We don’t know exactly how that wrath fell. We do know, however, that about nineteen years later, Jerusalem would be besieged by Titus and the Roman Legions, and as many as one million Jews would perish in the holocaust. Jesus had forewarned of that day, saying, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled” (Luke 21:20-22). Because of that warning, no Christians perished then. Praise God!

I’m reminded again how helpful it is to read the epistles within the chronological context of the book of Acts. In today’s chapter, Paul recounts a time period that we just read about in Acts a few days ago.

Remember that Paul and Silas may have spent no more than a month in Thessalonica before they were run out of town by jealous Jews (17:1-10). So naturally they were concerned about the young believers whom they had left behind after their premature departure. Paul had attempted to return to Thessalonica several times, but was “thwarted” by Satan (2:18). Worried that the young believers may have abandoned their faith under the fires of persecution, Paul eventually sent Timothy from Athens to Thessalonica, an event not recorded in the book of Acts. His hope was that Timothy would find believers who were holding fast, and a church not needing to be salvaged, but only strengthened and encouraged.

To Paul’s great relief, Timothy returned to Athens with a good report. The young Christians in Thessalonica were holding firm in their trials, and their faith was evident by their love.

Paul obviously believed what Jesus plainly taught, that those who initially receive the gospel with joy may end up falling away when they face the “affliction and persecution [that] arises because of the word” (see Matt. 13:5-6, 20-21). Paul was concerned that his labor in Thessalonica may have been “in vain” (3:5). Clearly, he would not make such a statement if he believed in the modern doctrine of “unconditional eternal security,” often referred to as “once saved always saved.” There is no way that Paul’s work could have been in vain if people in Thessalonica ultimately escaped hell because of his preaching. If, however, it is possible for believers to stop believing, and if continuing in faith is a requirement to gain entrance into heaven, then the possibility existed that all of Paul’s labor could be for nothing.

Paul would later promise the Christians at Colossae that Jesus would present them before God “holy and blameless and beyond reproach,” but only if they would “continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23, emphasis added). Obviously, if people are saved through faith, then those who don’t have faith are not saved, even if they possessed it previously. This is why Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers, “For now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord” (3:8, emphasis added). Paul would not have made such a statement had he believed there were no adverse consequences for those who did not stand firm in the Lord.

I remember once hearing one of America’s most famous preachers quote Jesus’ promise, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Based on that promise he declared that, if one believed for any moment of time, that person was saved and eternally secure, even if he never believed again. His conclusion was based on the fact that “Jesus said, ‘He who has believed’ (past tense).” I wondered why he didn’t keep reading Jesus’ very next words in Mark 16:16: “But he who has disbelieved shall be condemned,” and apply the same logic. If he had, he would have had to conclude that if anyone disbelieved for any moment of time, that person was condemned and eternally damned, even if he never disbelieved again.

Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians at the end of today’s reading reveals what truly is the most important thing: “May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people…so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus” (3:12-13). Loving others—by the ability that God gives—is the preeminent thing. That is the essence of true holiness. It will be the only thing any of us are concerned about when Jesus returns.

Incidentally, Paul’s “night and day” prayers to be reunited with the Thessalonians—for their spiritual benefit—were answered, as he was able to return to Thessalonica during his third missionary journey.

As I previously pointed out, Paul penned his letters to the Thessalonian believers while he was settled in Corinth for 18 months. He had established a church in Thessalonica some months before, but because of Jewish persecution (17:1-10), he didn’t stay as long as he would have liked. So he wrote to encourage a young and persecuted church that consisted mostly of formerly-pagan Gentiles along with a spattering of Jews.

What is a Christian? Most fundamentally, it is someone who, as Paul wrote, is “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1). This is exactly what Jesus taught His disciples, saying, “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Obviously, we are in Christ in a spiritual, not a physical, sense. How so?

Being creatures who are spirit, soul and body (1 Thes. 5:23), having had our spirits reborn by the Spirit, and now indwelled by His Spirit, we become one spirit with God. Amazing! That, of course, is what empowers us to live in conformity to His will. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The Thessalonian believers, although young in Christ, were already budding with good fruit, and Paul specifically mentioned their “work of faith” (faith always goes to work) as well as their love, hope, joy and service (1:3, 6, 9).

Take note how often, just in this short chapter, the concept of discipleship surfaces. Paul wrote of the example that he and Silvanus and Timothy had set before the Thessalonian believers, their subsequent imitation of that example, and finally their example to “all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia” (1:5-7). The goal is to become like Christ, and that is learned best, not by listening to lectures, but by observing and imitating those who are like Him. Paul and his traveling companions did not just preach sermons to those who would listen in Thessalonica. They lived in close fellowship with them so their lifestyles could be observed.

Contrast that with the modern idea that pastors should remain a “professional distance” from their congregational members in order to “maintain respect” and “effectively influence them.” Most parishioners have no idea how their pastor lives. They only see him behind the pulpit once a week, and perhaps share a few sentences with him as they shake his hand on the way out of the sanctuary. For true discipleship to occur, that must change, which is one reason the early churches consisted of small groups that met in homes, and discipleship was everyone’s responsibility, not just the pastor’s.

One final thought: Paul stated that the Thessalonians were “God’s choice” (1:4). Does this prove that they were “unconditionally elected” before time began to be saved? No, nothing is said about an “unconditional choice,” which is actually an oxymoron, since all choices are based on conditions. If God has “unconditionally elected” some to be saved, then there is no reason why He chose those whom He did, and people’s salvation was determined purely by chance. Moreover, they aren’t saved so much by grace as they are saved by luck!

The truth is, the Thessalonian Christians were conditionally chosen by God, as are all Christians, based on their faith which God foreknew (see 1 Pet. 1:1-2). However, Paul was not even talking in this chapter about any individuals being chosen by God, because what proved the Thessalonians were chosen by God, according to Paul, was the fact that his gospel came to them “in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1:5). That is, it was supernaturally confirmed as being true by God Himself.

The Thessalonian Gentiles could be sure God had chosen even them for salvation, and not just Jews, because God confirmed His gospel to them. If Paul meant in 1:4 that God had unconditionally pre-selected only certain Thessalonians to be saved, we would have to wonder how God’s supernatural confirmation that was performed in front of all the Thessalonians added credence to that fact.

Corinth was the capital of the region of Achaia, today part of southern Greece. It was a strategic location, a commercial center through which people from many places in the ancient world passed. Once Jesus’ church was established there, the gospel would spread to many other places.

By the time Paul brought the gospel to Corinth, 20 years had passed since the church was born in Jerusalem. After two decades, the New Testament consisted of only two letters, namely James and Galatians, and both were intended to have a limited circulation. It was from Corinth, however, that Paul wrote his two letters to the believers in Thessalonica, bringing the number of New Testament books to four. Again, however, those two letters were written for Christians in just one region.

These facts help us put the epistles in a proper perspective. Obviously, they were not the centerpiece of the early Christian Church. Nor were they dissected and debated so that they divided the early church. Rather, the early believers were simply focused on following Jesus by obeying His commandments.

Corinth had a reputation as being one of the most licentious cities in the ancient world, a seaman’s paradise. As many as 1,000 temple prostitutes worked as an integral part of the Corinthian religious experience at the temple of Aphrodite, goddess of love. It was paganism at its worst, but the Lord knew there were hearts that would open to the gospel. So He sent Paul.

Before Paul ever arrived, however, God had already been working on hearts, and some had opened. We read today of a Gentile named Titius Justus who lived right next door to the synagogue in Corinth and whom Luke calls “a worshiper of God” (18:7). It would seem probable that Titius’ living next to the synagogue was indicative of his spiritual hunger. He was a Gentile who had responded to his conscience, and he was drawn to the truth he found in Judaism. He is the second Gentile in the book of Acts whom Luke refers to as a “worshiper of God” (see 16:14). Moreover, on four other occasions, Luke refers to certain Gentiles as “God-fearing” (10:22; 13:43; 17:4, 17).

Keep in mind that fear of God is a prerequisite to salvation, as Scripture says that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). People who truly fear God are open to the gospel, and people who don’t fear God are not, because they don’t see themselves in need of being saved from God’s wrath.

God, of course, knows who does and doesn’t fear Him. He does not want His servants to waste their time on hardened hearts that have no fear of God. Rather, He will direct them to invest their time reaching out to those who are open. The Lord said to Paul when he was in Corinth, “Go on speaking and do not be silent…for I have many people in this city” (18:9-10). So Paul settled there for 18 months, reaching people whom God foreknew would turn to Him.

I’m sure Paul was relieved to know in advance, by the Lord’s promise, that he would not be attacked or harmed while he remained in Corinth (18:10). Remember that not long before, he had been beaten with rods and imprisoned in Philipi (16:22-24), and had run for his life both in Thessalonica (17:10) and Berea (17:14). He had perfect peace, however, when he was brought before the judgment seat of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia.

Ancient writers such as the famous Seneca tell of Gallio’s easygoing and careless personality. Too bad for him! He missed the chance of the lifetime to hear the gospel through the lips of Paul. Incidentally, an inscription found at Delphi, Greece dates Gallio’s proconsulship from 51 to 52 A.D. So we easily date Acts 18 and the writing of 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Take note that Paul was the original “tent-making missionary,” a modern phrase that refers to missionaries who live, not from offerings, but from their own labor. All true disciples, however, who earn their living by their labor are tent-making missionaries. They see their jobs as the means to support their ministries. We’re all called!

How interesting it is to read of the varying receptivity of those to whom Paul preached as he journeyed in Madedonia and Achaia, what is now modern Greece. In Thessalonica, after initial success, the persecution from unbelieving Jews grew so intense that Paul and Silas had to flee for their lives under the cover of darkness. At their next stop, however, in Berea, they found “more noble-minded” Jews who “received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily” (17:11). Because of their open hearts, “many believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men” (17:12). Note that Luke was no Calvinist. He did not pin the responsibility on God, but on free-willed human beings, for their salvation.

Fleeing persecution in Berea that was instigated by Thessalonican Jews, Paul boarded a boat for Athens, a seat of idolatry. Luke highlights Paul’s interaction with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers there, and knowing something about their different philosophies helps us to appreciate Paul’s message to them on the Areopagus.

Epicureans denied any divine activity by the gods, believing that everything occurred by chance, and asserting that man’s chief aim is pleasure. Life’s goal was to live without any physical pain or mental anxiety, fully enjoying material things, as well as sex, companionship, acceptance and love. In their minds, there was no such thing as life after death.

Stoics were pantheists who believed that everything was governed by an irresistible fate, and that virtue was its own reward, while vice was its own sufficient punishment. Rather than making pleasure their highest goal, they focused more on the virtues of wisdom, bravery, justice and moderation. The perfect person yielded himself without passion to fate, and it is from this philosophical school that we derive our English adjective, stoic, which means “forbearing.”

Paul began his sermon to the philosophers by complimenting them for being religious (17:22). We often see people’s false religion as a barrier to the gospel, but we should use it, as Paul did, as a bridge to their hearts. Paul didn’t castigate the Athenian philosophers for their idolatry, but used their altar “to an unknown god” as a launching point for the gospel (17:23).

Notice that Paul didn’t quote any Old Testament scriptures as was his custom when preaching the gospel to Jews. They would have been all but meaningless to his Gentile audience. Rather, he briefly explained some fundamental truths about God’s nature and even quoted a Greek poet who wrote that all people are God’s offspring (17:28). Paul could have pointed out the technical error of their poet’s thinking, as he (Paul) knew that only those who are born again are truly God’s offspring. Yet he no doubt agreed that all people have been created by God, and he used the poet’s line to help persuade his audience of the folly of idolatry. How could we, as God’s offspring, have been created by idols of gold or stone? Why would the superior worship the inferior?

Not only did Paul strive to find points of agreement with his audience, but he displayed respect, humility and tact as he spoke. It was not a condescending sermon. Notice how he identified with his listeners as he used the editorial, “We” instead of “You” in his sentence, “We ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver” (17:29).

Paul did not, however, compromise the gospel or make it more appealing in hopes of gaining more converts. He proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection, the necessity of repentance and the coming day of judgment (17:30-31). Recognizing the mixed reactions of his audience, Paul did not press for immediate decisions or even share what could be considered a complete gospel. Rather, he gave them just enough information to motivate those whose hearts were receptive to question him later, which they did, and some ultimately believed.

According to what Paul said, God expects all people to seek Him and find Him, because He has revealed Himself to everyone (17:27). If any person, anywhere on the face of the earth sincerely seeks to know God, God will see to it that the person finds Him. Jesus promised, “Seek, and you will find” (Matt. 7:7).

As I’m sure you realized, Paul had Timothy circumcised, not because he believed Timothy couldn’t be saved otherwise. Rather, it was because Paul knew that Jews would not be receptive to an uncircumcised man who was bringing a message about the Jewish Messiah. This shows us how amazingly important circumcision was to the Jews of Paul’s day. It was the litmus test, and I hate to think that any Jews actually required Timothy to drop his drawers to verify his credentials, but yet such a thing seems possible in light of what we’ve just read!

We’re reading today of Paul’s second missionary journey. You can see on the map below that he visited some of the places where he planted churches during his first missionary journey (red line), but that he traveled far beyond Galatia (in modern Eastern Turkey) to the eastern coast of modern Greece (blue line). Notice also on the map below that Paul and Silas initially made no preaching stops in “Asia” (modern western Turkey) because they had been “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word” there (16:6). Obviously it was a matter of strategy and timing, because Paul eventually made a brief stop in the Asian city of Ephesus on his way home, and he eventually settled in Ephesus for two years during his third missionary journey. As a result, “all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord” (19:9). How important it is to be sensitive to God’s will and His timing.

Paul’s 1st (red line) and 2nd (blue line) missionary journeys

Luke wrote that “the Lord opened the heart” (16:14) of Lydia, the first disciple in Europe. This does not prove, as some say, that God zapped her with some “irresistible grace” due to the fact that she was specially chosen to be saved. Luke’s words simply emphasize God’s influence on her heart, an influence to which she yielded. If I said, “Your speech tonight melted my heart,” does that prove that you exercised some kind of irresistible power over me that affected me apart from my own receptivity to your words? Obviously not.

Note that the spectacular guidance Paul and Silas received via a night vision to preach the gospel in Macedonia was soon followed by a beating and imprisonment. When God guides us through such spectacular means (beyond the gentle inward leading of the Spirit), it serves to warn us that difficulties lie ahead. The Lord knows we’ll need the extra assurance of being in His will that only spectacular guidance provides. Beware of those who claim to have visions and see angels on a daily or weekly basis, especially those who do nothing else to build God’s kingdom but have visions and see angels.

Certain that they were in the center of God’s will, Paul and Silas were able to sing praises to God, even while their feet were fastened in chains to a prison wall. The Lord’s very effective prison ministry resulted in a jailhouse shaking and revival!

The Philippian jailer, however, got more than “jailhouse religion.” When he asked what he needed to do to be saved, Paul did not tell him to invite Jesus into his heart or accept Jesus as his personal Savior. Neither did Paul tell him to believe in Jesus. Rather, Paul told him to believe in the Lord Jesus (16:31). He did, and his faith went right to work. He washed Paul and Silas’ wounds, fixed them a meal, was baptized, and “rejoiced greatly” (16:34). He demonstrated four fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, kindness and goodness (see Gal. 5:22).

Paul was not saying in 16:31 that if the jailer believed, it guaranteed that his whole family would be saved. That would contradict many other scriptures (see, for example, 1 Cor. 7:16). Paul was simply saying that if the jailer and his family believed in Jesus, they would all be saved. Notice that Paul preached the gospel to everyone in the jailer’s household (16:32), and they all individually believed (16:33-34). We cannot “claim” Acts 16:31 for our families to guarantee their salvation. We should tell them the gospel and live godly lives before them.

You should have felt right at home reading Acts 15 today, having just read Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Both focus on the same problem and both reveal the same remedy. It stands to reason that Paul wrote his Galatian letter before the Jerusalem council of Acts 15, otherwise he would have surely mentioned it in his letter.

Sadly, what we read today is often twisted by false grace teachers to promote their strange gospel. Notice, however, that the issue was not whether Gentiles should obey the law of Christ. Rather, the issue was circumcision and the Law of Moses (15:1, 5), and more specifically, the ceremonial and ritualistic aspects of the Law of Moses, since the Gentile believers would have been keeping the moral aspects of the Mosaic Law by virtue of the fact that they were following Christ’s commandments. Thus, their deficiencies in the eyes of the false teachers were only regarding circumcision and rituals, which allegedly disqualified them from being saved (15:1).

Luke highlighted the most persuasive arguments presented at the gathering of the Jerusalem elders and apostles. Peter recounted how God dramatically poured out His Spirit on the first Gentiles who believed the gospel, and without requiring their circumcision. Echoing Paul’s words that we read yesterday (Gal. 6:13), Peter also questioned why his theological opponents would expect Gentile believers to keep laws that none of them had ever kept. The Mosaic Law was an impossible yoke—unlike Jesus’ “easy yoke” (Matt. 11:30). Peter maintained that we are saved by grace.

It was out of consideration for Jews that James recommended to the council that they request believing Gentiles to “abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood” (15:20). Notice that the basis for his recommendation was not “because God requires these things of them to be saved,” but because “Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath” (15:21). That is, if the Gentile believers ate what was sacrificed to idols, or meat from animals that had been strangled rather than butchered so that the blood was drained—practices that were particularly abhorrent to scrupulous Jews—it could well be a stumbling block to their salvation. Additionally, those practices could also offend believing Jews within the church who did not yet fully understand their freedom from the Mosaic Law.

Paul would later address these same issues in two of his letters, stating that it was not a sin to eat meat sacrificed to idols, but that one should abstain from doing so if it would cause a brother to stumble (Rom. 14:1-23, Cor. 10:19-33).

What about the council’s recommendation that believing Gentiles abstain from “fornication”? Would not fornication be forbidden in the law of Christ? So why was it emphasized here?

Because the other three recommendations focused on eating offenses, it is likely that “fornication” here is a reference to eating meat that was purchased at a pagan temple where sex with a temple prostitute was a regular religious practice. Believing Gentiles who maintained any connection with their former pagan practices—even if it was nothing more than purchasing meat from a pagan temple which had been strangled, sacrificed to idols, or connected to some sexual perversion—may well have discredited their testimonies in the eyes of observing, unbelieving Jews.

Four respected representatives delivered the council’s decision to the Antioch believers, and it is no wonder they rejoiced when they heard it, having faced the prospect of lining up to be circumcised without anesthesia, not to mention the prospect of having to keep the entire Law of Moses! But don’t make the error of thinking that the sum total of everything God expected of them was found in those four recommendations. The law of Christ and the law of conscience were never called into question.

Paul and Barnabas’ disagreement and split over Mark finds a happier ending many years later, when Paul wrote to Timothy, “Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service” (2 Tim. 4:11). Paul softened, or Mark improved! Or both!

If it hasn’t been clear before, it couldn’t be clearer today. When Paul wrote of our freedom from the Law in this letter, he was speaking about the Law of Moses. He certainly wasn’t speaking about the law of Christ, because we read in 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” We are expected to keep Christ’s law!

Yet many commentaries on the book of Galatians will tell you that the theme of the letter is “salvation by faith alone, apart from works.” This is only true if by “works,” it is meant “works of the Law of Moses, particularly circumcision.” So often, however, the phrase “salvation by faith alone” is construed to imply that holiness has nothing to do with salvation, so you can live like hell and go to heaven as long as you say you believe in Jesus. That, however, is heresy. Don’t forget, just three years before Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, a letter from James was circulated among all the churches that included the statement, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas. 2:24).

Moreover, in this final chapter, Paul warns his readers that everyone will reap what he has sown. Only holy people, those who are “sowing to the Spirit” as opposed to “sowing to the flesh,” will reap eternal life (6:7-8). “Sowing to the Spirit” simply means to do good continually (6:9-10). A sower plants lots of seeds. Remember, Paul warned yesterday that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit God’s kingdom (5:21). Today he repeats that warning using slightly different words (6:8).

Again, we see that circumcision was the primary issue, as Paul mentions it five times today. In fact, Paul summarizes the point of his entire letter in 6:15: “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” It makes no difference if one is circumcised or uncircumcised. What is important is if one is born again and living like a new creation. Such people are the only people who are truly holy, as they are being transformed by God’s Spirit.

Paul points out that the false teachers who are so focused on circumcision do not keep the rest of the Law of Moses. They boasted in their circumcision, as if that is what made them righteous in God’s eyes, effectively denigrating Jesus’ death on the cross and nullifying salvation by grace through faith. We can say along with Paul, however, that we boast only in the cross of Christ, because it was there that our salvation was purchased through the work of God, and from there His grace flowed to save us. Our old self was crucified with Christ, and we have become dead to the world and the world has become dead to us. It no longer has the attraction for us that it once had, as we see it now in its darkness and rebellion. We long for a better place.

True Christians are radically different from the world. We feel like aliens living on this planet. We can’t understand why everyone doesn’t repent and receive the forgiveness and transformation that God so graciously offers to all. We love to do good, and we live to please God.

Finally, a side thought. Today we read, “The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him” (6:6). This is an admonition for Christians to support their pastors/elders/overseers materially, as well as any apostles, prophets, evangelists or teachers from whom they’ve benefitted spiritually. It is heart-breaking to observe today how many wolves in sheep’s clothing are profiting from the sheep whom they regularly fleece. I admonish you, dear reader, don’t give any of God’s money to alleged “apostles” and “prophets” who flaunt their wealth and proclaim their gospel of greed, or to false teachers and evangelists who turn God’s grace into a license to sin. Don’t attend or support an apostate church overseen by a hireling pastor. Support those who unashamedly proclaim the truth! Help spread the truth!

Once again we see that the main issue in Galatia was circumcision for Gentiles, mentioned four times in this short chapter. The teaching that circumcision was essential for salvation made Paul quite angry! He wrote, (and I paraphrase 5:12): “If these fellows think that the removal of a little skin is so beneficial, why don’t they just go ahead and castrate themselves?”

Paul writes that those Gentiles who do receive circumcision are “under obligation to keep the whole Law” (5:3), the emphasis being on the word whole, meaning not just the moral aspects—but every ritualistic aspect of the Mosaic Law as well. If one adopts the Mosaic Law as his means of salvation, he must keep it all perfectly, or be cursed. That is why Paul refers to it as “a yoke of slavery” (5:1).

Tragically, by twisting Paul’s words and ignoring context, some make him say that those who are striving to be holy, or who think that holiness is essential, have “severed themselves from Christ” and “fallen from grace” (5:4). Remember, however, that Paul was addressing those who had believed in Jesus and were reborn, but who were now being circumcised and keeping Jewish rituals, trusting that by doing those things they were earning their salvation. Those, and only those kinds of people, are severing themselves from Christ and falling from grace. They are vastly different from the people who, having believed in Jesus, and knowing that they have been saved by the grace made available through His substitutionary death, are now striving to follow Him obediently by the power of the indwelling Spirit. The former attempts to save himself by his own efforts apart from God’s grace, whereas the latter is saved by God’s grace, which not only provides forgiveness, but also the ability to be holy.

All of this is further substantiated by Paul’s words in 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” A living faith, characterized by works, particularly of loving one’s neighbor, is what is essential. Moreover, Paul wrote in this same chapter that those who practice the deeds of the flesh will not inherit God’s kingdom (5:19-21). Holiness, true holiness, is the fruit of saving faith and the new birth.

Clearly, freedom from the Law of Moses is not to be confused with freedom from holiness: “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (5:13). Paul also wrote that those who are led by the Spirit are not under the Law of Moses (5:18), but obviously, the Holy Spirit leads people to be holy.

Incidentally, isn’t it amazing that so many modern teachers tell us that it is impossible to forfeit salvation or “fall from grace,” when Paul writes so plainly in this chapter of the danger of both?

We learn today that born again people are two-natured, and experience an inward battle between evil desires, what Paul refers to as “the flesh,” and the inward-dwelling Spirit. Clearly, we decide who wins that battle. There is no magic formula or deep spiritual secret to walking in holiness. We must simply “walk by the Spirit,” and when we do, the result is that we “will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (5:16).

Your flesh, or “old nature” as it is sometimes called, left unrestrained, would pull you into immorality, drunkenness, and continual strife. But true believers, “those who belong to Christ…have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24). What is crucified is not yet dead, but is definitely restrained. When someone truly believes in Jesus, he makes an inward commitment to obey Him and resist sin. Although he is still tempted by the old nature, he resists it. Even if he yields, he feels an inward resistance the entire time, and afterwards, a huge sense of condemnation that pulls him towards confession and repentance. All of that is part of the process of sanctification as the Spirit works in us to make us more holy. More evidence of God’s amazing grace!