Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: There is an apparent contradiction between the clear message Paul has given us in the first four chapters of Galatians and his admonitions to moral conduct in chapters 5 and 6. On the one hand, we can no longer follow the law, in the sense that we cannot depend upon it to make us righteous before God. On the other hand, he now tells us that we cannot follow the impulses of the flesh. He cites or even creates rules of conduct and clearly expects that we will conform ourselves to them. left-photo joyful girl with arms stretched up (no cross) - colorful At no point is there more tension between these two poles than when he tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves because this is “the fulfillment of the law.” Having told us that the law will not save us, that it is slavery, he now demands that we obey it! But he is not contradicting himself. The law was not destroyed. Just as Christ said, He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17-20) Our freedom is not freedom from the Law, but freedom from complying with the Law in order to become righteous in God’s eyes. The purpose of the Law was to show us our sin and the impossibility of freeing ourselves from sin, and thus prepare us to understand the necessity of Christ. But the Law did, in the process, show us what is sinful, and if we love Christ, we will want to avoid sin like the plague. We will hate our sin, because we have learned to love true goodness by witnessing the human incarnation of perfect good: Jesus Christ. Some Christians picture this as a narrow path between conservative moralism, or legalism, and liberal or pagan permissiveness. It might be better, however, to view it as a spiritual state that has risen above both moralism and permissiveness. Christ gives us our freedom only when we are ready for it: when we have learned to hate our sin. We are then freed from fear. If we should tell a lie today — and many of us will — we do not fear being cast off from God. If we should look at pornography or commit adultery — or even murder somebody — we do not thereby put ourselves permanently and irrevocably beyond the salvation that Christ brought to us. As John puts it: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. (1 John 2:1-6) Jesus teaches the law from a scroll In logical terms, John is speaking in double-talk. If we love Christ we will keep His commandments. If we say we know him and do not keep his commandments, we are lying; but if we break one of His commandments, He will forgive us, because we know him. This states a logical contradiction that cannot be resolved intellectually. Paul tackles the issue head-on in 1 Corinthians 1. The power of the cross defies logic and defies strength. Paul calls Christianity “foolishness.”because, just as our deeds cannot save us, our intellects cannot save us. We cannot know God by our thoughts or by our deeds, but only by the Holy Spirit, who transcends both. In a word, Christianity does not make sense. If it made sense, we would not need faith. Those who demand that it make sense are assuming, implicitly, that their intellect is perfect and capable of knowing the truth. What Paul teaches us is just the opposite. Just as Christ transcended the human concept of strength by becoming weak, He transcended the human concept of wisdom by acting foolish. Indeed, who could possibly be stupid enough to hand himself over to torture and crucifixion for no logical reason?