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James Montgomery Boice · Citado em PreceptAustin
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Boice - "Before plunging into this third section of his letter, Paul interjects a verse that is at once a summary of all that has gone before and a transition to what follows. It is, in fact, the key verse of the entire Epistle. Because of the nature of the true gospel and of the work of Christ on his behalf, the believer is now to turn away from anything that smacks of legalism and instead rest in Christ's triumphant work for him and live in the power of Christ's Spirit. . . . The appeal is for an obstinate perseverance in freedom as the only proper response to an attempt to bring Christians once more under legalism." (Expositor's Bible Commentary - 1976) MacArthur introduces this section - Paul now applies that doctrine to practical Christian living (chaps. 5-6), emphasizing that right doctrine should result in right living. His subject is the sanctification that should result from justification. The life of genuine faith is more than the belief in divine truth; it is also the bearing of divine fruit. Especially in chapter 5 (Gal 5:5, 16-18, 25), the apostle emphasizes the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, without which genuine Christian living would be impossible. It is the Holy Spirit Who makes the life of faith work (cf Ezek 36:37+). Were it not for the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, the life of faith would be no more spiritually productive or acceptable to God than the life of law. The freedom for which Christ sets us free (Gal 5:1) is the freedom to live a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. God's standard of holiness has not changed. As Jesus makes clear in the Sermon on the Mount, it requires not simply outward performance but inner perfection. Through His Holy Spirit, believers have the ability to live internal lives of righteousness. The final two chapters of Galatians are a portrait of the Spirit-filled life, of the believer's implementing the life of faith under the control and in the energy of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-filled life thereby becomes in itself a powerful testimony to the power of justification by faith. (MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Galatians) Jack Arnold's introduction - Anybody who knows anything about the American Revolution knows the famous words of Patrick
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Boice has a similar comment (and this helps understand the urgency of Paul's letter) - "In this verse the tense of the verb “to be circumcised” (receive circumcision) is important. It is a present passive (as it is in Gal 5:3), which gives the sense, “If you should let yourselves be circumcised.” This implies quite clearly that the Galatians had not yet taken this step but rather were just considering it, and therefore their motivation becomes the important thing. It also means that Paul was in no sense condemning those Jewish Christians who had always, as it were, been circumcised. His advice to such is given in 1 Corinthians 7:17–20. If a man who has been circumcised becomes a Christian, he should remain circumcised, not seeking to change his status. If he is uncircumcised, he should remain uncircumcised. The point, once again, is that particular forms of legalism are not themselves the important issues. The issue is works versus grace, or, as we will soon see, spirit versus flesh. Paul’s concern was that nothing should cloud perception of this central Christian doctrine. (Expositor's Bible Commentary - 1976) That if you receive circumcision (cf 1 Cor 7:18) - "if you allow yourself to be circumcised." Any believer who undertook circumcision with the goal of "adding" to their salvation would in effect "subtract" from grace. They would nullify the effect and power of grace in their Christian life! In a sense they would be forced (by default) to live their Christian life in reliance upon their own strength! We've all been there! We have tried to control a sin for example in our own strength and may have succeeded briefly, only to discover that it was soon back with a vengeance! If this is the bulk of your Christian experience, then you might want to examine yourself to see if you have fallen into legalism of one sort or another. You might even consider praying Psalm 139:23-24. God will show you for He is faithful and His desire for us is to be trophies of His grace because thereby He receives the glory (see especially the phrase "all things" in 1 Pe 4:10-11+). The false teachers were saying that the Gentile Christian converts had to be circumcised. Paul was not concerned about the physical act itself but what this act had come to signify to the Jews. It was not just an act but it signified a "theology" of keeping the Law to attain righteousness. And so these Judaizers were saying that faith in Jesus is important, but it was not enough for salvation. "According to the Judaizers, the only good Christian was a circumcised Christian." (Ryken) They taught that one needed to receive circumcision in order to gain merit before God and be fully saved. Boice says "What Paul is condemning is the theology of circumcision—namely, the theology that makes works necessary for salvation and seeks to establish conformity to some external standards of behavior as a mark of spirituality." (Expositor's Bible Commentary - 1976) This false teaching had plagued the church from the beginning Luke recording that "Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved....But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” (Acts 15:1, 5+). Sadly the Jews had turned what God meant to be a symbol into a human work they felt merited righteous standing before God. To them circumcision "stood for a particular type of religion, namely salvation by good works in obedience to the law." (Stott) But they were tragically mistaken for if one looks at the OT God made it clear that circumcision was only a symbol of what was to be an inner (spiritual) "circumcision" of their hearts (cf Dt. 30:6+; Jer. 4:4; 9:24-26). See Excursus on Circumcision.
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Boice quips that "God would put a minus sign before Christ in the lives of the Galatians if they put a plus sign before anything else." (Expositor's Bible Commentary - 1976) (ED: And that's exactly the effect legalism will have on the life of any genuine believer!) Be of...benefit (of no value, no profit)(5623)(opheleo from ophéllo = heap up or from ophelos = increase, profit) means to provide assistance, with emphasis upon the resulting benefit. It is used usually with the sense of gain, profit in both a material and non-material sense. John
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Boice adds "Up to this point Paul has been talking only of the Galatians, using the pronoun “you.” He has been warning them about what they seemed to be doing. Now the pronoun changes to “we” and is placed in an emphatic position—“we wait” and “we hope.” It is as if Paul is saying, “But, on the other hand, we Christians do not choose legalism; rather, we wait in faith through the Spirit for the full realization of God’s righteousness.”" (Expositor's Bible Commentary - 1976) Note the striking contrast between a life lived by grace which birthed salvation in our soul... Through the Spirit, not the flesh. Through faith, not works. Through expectant waiting and sure hope, not anxious uncertainty. Through the Spirit - Not through the flesh. The waiting Paul describes will be supernaturally enabled by the Holy Spirit. He will give us both the desire and the power (cf Php 2:13NLT+) to wait patiently and expectantly for this future hope, the hope of righteousness. John