Scripture Reading: Gal. 6:11-16
In this message we come to 6:11-16. In these verses the main point is that we have been crucified to the religious world in order to live a new creation.
In 6:11 Paul says, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand.” There may be two reasons Paul speaks of “large letters.” The first is that large letters indicate the importance of what Paul was writing. Through using large letters, Paul may have wanted to impress his readers with the importance of this Epistle. Second, the use of large letters may have been due to the weakness of Paul’s eyes (4:13-15). The weakness to which Paul refers in 4:13 may have been in his eyes. This would have caused him to write in large letters. This physical weakness may also have been the thorn in the flesh, the thorn which Paul prayed might be removed from him (2 Cor. 12:7-9).
In verses 12 and 13 we see the boast of the Judaizers: “As many as desire to make a good show in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For neither do they that are circumcised themselves keep the law, but they desire you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.” The Greek expression rendered “good show” in verse 12 means a good countenance, hence a good appearance for making a good show, a good display. It is used here in a negative sense. Circumcision, like the cross, is not a good show, but an abasement. However, the Judaizers made it a good show as a boast in the flesh.
The expression “in the flesh” means outwardly in the sphere of the flesh, which is condemned and repudiated by God. Their circumcision was in man’s natural and external being, without the inward reality and spiritual value which are in our regenerated spirit.
According to verse 13, not even those who compelled the Galatians to be circumcised kept the law. They wanted the Galatians to be circumcised so that they could boast in their flesh. On the one hand, they wanted to make a display in their own flesh; on the other hand, they wanted to boast in the flesh of the Galatians.
In verses 14 through 16 we have the boast of the Apostle Paul. “But far be it from me to boast,” Paul says in verse 14, “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” The cross is truly an abasement, but Paul made it his boast. The world has been crucified to us, and we to the world. This has taken place not directly, but through Christ, the One who was crucified. The explanation in verse 15 proves that the world here refers mainly to the religious world. The word “for” at the beginning of verse 15 indicates that this verse is an explanation of the foregoing verse. Furthermore, circumcision, being a religious matter, indicates that the world in verse 14 must be mainly the religious world.
In verse 15 Paul says, “For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” When this verse is considered along with verses 11 through 14, we see that Paul’s concern here is mainly with the religious world, not the secular world. Those who were seeking to compel the Galatian believers to be circumcised were not trying to lure them into the secular world; they were wanting to bring them into the religious world to make a display in the flesh and to avoid persecution. The various matters Paul covers in these verses are thus related to religion, not to the secular world. Therefore, we see clearly from the context that the world in verse 14 is the religious world.
On the one hand, the religious world was crucified to Paul; on the other hand, he was crucified to the religious world. Because of the cross of Christ, the religious world would not have anything to do with Paul, nor would Paul have anything to do with the religious world. The same is true of us today.
In verse 15 Paul says that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation. The old creation is our old man in Adam (Eph. 4:22), our natural being by birth, without God’s life and the divine nature. The new creation is the new man in Christ (Eph. 4:24), our being regenerated by the Spirit (John 3:6), having God’s life and the divine nature wrought into us (John 3:36; 2 Pet. 1:4), with Christ as its constituent (Col. 3:10-11). It is this new creation that fulfills God’s eternal purpose by expressing God in His sonship.
Circumcision is an ordinance of law; the new creation is the masterpiece of life with the divine nature. The former is of dead letters; the latter is of the living Spirit. Hence, it counts, it avails. This book exposes the inability both of the law and of circumcision. Law cannot impart life (3:21) to regenerate us, and circumcision cannot energize us (5:6) to live a new creation. But the Son of God who has been revealed in us (1:16) can enliven us and make us a new creation, and Christ who lives in us (2:20) can afford us the riches of His life to live the new creation. Law is replaced by Christ (2:19-20), and circumcision is fulfilled by Christ’s crucifixion (6:14). Hence, neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation with Christ as its life.
The new creation spoken of in 6:15 is the old creation transformed by the divine life, by the processed Triune God. The old creation was old because God was not part of it; the new creation is new because God is in it. We who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God are still God’s creation, but we are now His new creation. However, this is real only when we live and walk by the Spirit. Whenever we live and walk by the flesh, we are in the old creation, not in the new creation. Anything in our daily life that does not have God in it is the old creation, but what has God in it is part of the new creation.
God’s intention is that we become a new creation. This new creation is composed of sons. In a very practical sense, the corporate sonship is God’s new creation. Those in the old creation are sons of Adam in the fall. But through God’s redemption and regeneration and through the dispensation of Himself into us, we who once were sons of Adam have now become sons of God. Here in this divine sonship we are the new creation.
If we would be in the new creation, we must enter into an organic union with the Triune God. Apart from such a union, we shall remain in the old creation. But now by the organic union with the Triune God we are in the new creation. Here in the new creation neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything or avails anything.
Apparently Paul wrote the book of Galatians to deal with the law. Actually this book deals with the old creation. Although Paul tells us that we are justified by faith, the main point is not justification, but the new creation. When we were in the flesh, we were very much involved with the law and we were, of course, in the old creation. But when we are in the Spirit, we are not under the law and we are in the new creation. Thus, Paul’s concern in Galatians is not merely with the doctrine concerning the law and justification by faith; it is with the revelation that we are God’s new creation. Here we are no longer involved with law-keeping, circumcision, and religious practices. In the new creation only one thing is vital and crucial to us — the Triune God who has been processed to become the life-giving Spirit so that He may be our life, our nature, and our everything through the organic union between us and Him. How wonderful it is that in this organic union we are a new creation!
Many readers of Galatians have missed this crucial point. They have seen that in this Epistle the law is set aside and that justification by faith is emphasized. But Paul’s burden in this book is not merely justification by faith; it is to unveil to his readers the matter of sonship by the divine life, by the Triune God becoming everything to us in our experience. When considered corporately, the sons of God are the new creation. The main issue in Galatians is not circumcision or uncircumcision, religion or no religion. It is an issue of whether or not we are the new creation through an organic union with the Triune God.
If we would live the new creation, we need to experience the cross. According to 6:14 and 15, the cross deals with the religious world. It is unfortunate that many Christians regard the world in 6:14 as only the secular world. But as we have already indicated, the context makes it clear that the world in this verse is primarily the religious world. This understanding fits the basic concept of the whole book of Galatians. This book was written not to deal with the secular world; it was written to deal with religion, with Judaism. In this book Paul deals with religious people, with those who are concerned for the things of God, but who express their concern in a wrong way. To them, religion has become a world. Hence, we have both the secular world and the religious world.
Today millions of Christians are occupied even more by the religious world than by the secular world. Take Christmas as an example. The celebration of Christmas is certainly related to the religious world. If you still observe Christmas, it is doubtful that you are living a new creation. The celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with God’s new creation.
By the cross we are separated from the religious world. If we are still involved with the religious world, we shall not be able to live a new creation. We should be able to say that the religious world has been crucified to us and that we have been crucified to the religious world. We should be able to testify that even if we tried to go back to that world, we would be rejected by it, for we have been crucified to it. Even if Paul had desired to return to Judaism, the religionists would not have accepted him. Rather, they would have commanded him to leave, for he was in another world. To Judaism Paul had been crucified, and Judaism had been crucified to him. Between him and the religious world there was the separation of the cross. It is this separation which qualifies us to live a new creation. Everything practiced in the religious world is part of the old creation. But through the cross of Christ, we are finished with religion and are in another world, another realm. In this realm we live a new creation by the Spirit, not the old creation by the flesh.
In 6:16 Paul goes on to say, “And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” The rule Paul speaks of here is that of being a new creation, living by the Spirit through faith, not that of keeping the law through the observance of ordinances. This rule, the rule of the new creation, is the processed Triune God being our life and our living. On the one hand, we say that in the church life we do not have regulations and rules. Although this is true, it is not true in every sense, for we do have the rule mentioned in 6:16. We need to walk by the rule which is the Triune God processed to be our life and living. To live in this way by the new creation is our rule.
In 5:25 Paul charges us to walk by the Spirit, and in 6:16 he charges us to walk by “this rule.” This indicates that to walk by this rule is to walk by the Spirit. In other words, the rule is equal to the Spirit. When we live by the Spirit, we live by the processed Triune God as our life and our living. Therefore, to live by the Spirit is to live by this rule.
Paul says concerning those who walk by this rule, “peace be upon them and mercy.” Paul opens his Epistles with a word about grace and peace. This is true of Galatians (1:3). But at the end of Galatians, Paul mentions peace (v. 16) before grace (v. 18). Grace is the Triune God becoming our enjoyment, and peace is the issue, the result, of this enjoyment. Whenever we enjoy the Triune God as grace, we have peace. Peace is thus the condition that results from grace. However, even though we have peace, we still have need for more grace. First we receive grace, and grace brings in the condition of peace. Then as we abide in this peaceful condition, we need to receive further grace. In addition to grace, we also need mercy. Therefore, Paul says that upon those who walk by this rule, who walk by the Spirit, there should be peace and mercy.
Paul concludes verse 16 with the words, “even upon the Israel of God.” The Greek word rendered even (kai) here is not connective but explicative, indicating that the apostle considers the many individual believers in Christ collectively the Israel of God. The Israel of God is the real Israel (Rom. 9:6; 2:28-29; Phil. 3:3), including all the Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ. These are the true sons of Abraham (Gal. 3:7, 29), the household of the faith (6:10).
Those who walk by “this rule” are the true Israel, the Israel of God. In a way there is no difference between the nation of Israel and the secular world or the religious world. In the eyes of God, the nation of Israel is not the real Israel. We, the sons of God, are the true Israel, for we are God’s household, His chosen people today. We may not be Israel outwardly, but we are Israel inwardly. This is why we say that we, the believers in Christ, are the true Israel. The outward nation of Israel has little concern for God. However, we have a genuine concern for God and speak of Him continually. We are indeed the Israel of God.
