But the question deserves even more context. The letter to the churches in the region of Galatia (in Asia Minor) was, in great part, a rebuke of Judaizing that was happening in the churches. In Galatians 1:6-7, Paul writes, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
A reading of the whole of Galatians demonstrates that Paul is uniquely qualified to deal with the issues arising in the churches of the region. Christianity cannot devolve into Judaism. Christians are not under the law but walk in faith.
The recipients of this letter are gentile Christians who have been troubled by a number of Jewish Christians, Paul calls the Judaizers “those who were of the circumcision.” (Galatians 2:11)
Perhaps the central passage of the letter is Galatians 3:1-9:
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
A little later Paul writes:
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Galatians 3:21-25
Suffice it to say that Paul is mounting a vigorous argument against returning to the Law.
To what does Paul refer when he says, “Against such there is no law?” The natural conclusion is the Law of Moses. For the Galatian brethren, the point is taken that a righteous walk in Christ, evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit, is not contrary to the Law but the fulfillment of the Law.
For us, as with the brethren of Galatia and all Christians across time, Paul’s plain statement can be taken to heart no matter what law we may live under or what law anyone may want to foist upon us: there is no law against righteousness.
In Romans 12, Paul makes it plain that we are to live under the obedience of whatever governing law we live (as long as that law does not compel us to disobey God), however, we do not look to law to define our life in Christ. It is faith that guides us as we look into God’s word and follow Jesus.
The Law of Moses regulated the flesh. Faith leads away from the entanglements of the flesh. If we diligently seek and follow Christ, we will put away sin and live righteously. The Law was a tutor teaching faith to those willing to learn.
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control — the fruit of the Spirit — were never contrary to the Law of Moses or any law. This is Paul’s point when he says, “against such there is no law.”
There is nothing holding us back from living righteously. Not the law of Moses. Not the law of man.
A few verses before our initial text, Paul writes, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16
If we will strive to walk in the Spirit, we will exhibit the fruit of the spirit and will exceed the expectation of any law, proving “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2
There are so many parts of the Bible where we so often stop at one verse and read it in isolation, like John 3:16. What we miss when we do this is that the verse is part of a greater context. In fact, our understanding of the verse is made so much richer by reading the verses around it. In this case, John 3:16-17 are together a fuller thought:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Even John 3:16 begins “for” — begging us to dig for more context before it.
Belief in God is utterly important. Paul tells us in Hebrews that “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” (again, read more around Hebrews 11:6)
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Let us consider the idea of rightly dividing the word of truth.
Recently, I had a discussion about Matthew 7:1 and whether or not it is acceptable for a Christian to judge another person. The problem is that the question is fraught with issues in itself. What does the person mean when they ask about judging?
Let’s start with Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”
It is by Jesus that we know the Father. Colossians 1:15 says, of Christ, “He is the image of the invisible God,” and Jesus’ words in John 14:9 are “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus again said, in John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” … just as Paul tells us in Hebrews 1:1, that God “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” Jesus is not the Father, but He is the “express image” of the Father.
Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
In the previous chapter, full of difficult names to read, there are about 70 nations (or families) listed.
It is important to understand that because it means that when God dispersed the peoples of man and confused their languages there were fewer than 100 languages developed from the Tower of Babel.
What is interesting is that experts in language tell us that of the over 7000 living languages that exist today; they come from only about 136 language families. (Example: spoken Chinese is separated into five main groups of dialects … with over 200 individual dialects.)
We will consider three verses: 1 John 4:7, 3 John 11, and Philippians 2:13:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. 3 John 11
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13
The first two of these verses come from John and the last from Paul. The three passages are not naturally linked together in the Scriptures, but they do work together well. We will, of course, deal with each verse in the context of the passages where they are found as well as taken together.
