Galatians 4:8-20, “Gospel Assurance”

Are you saved? Truly, there is no question of greater importance. Are you saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ? Have you recognized your sin as being grievous offenses against the holy God, and turned from it to flee to Jesus as your loving Savior? Do you fully trust in Jesus as being the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins, rising from the grave? If you can truthfully answer “yes,” then you are gloriously free from the wrath of God, free from death, free to know God, love Him, and live with Him forever. It not, you are still enslaved to sin and this world, destined to face God’s righteous wrath and eternal judgment in hell. That is not what God desires for you; He desires for you to be saved, so be saved through faith in Jesus Christ!

Such is the basic message of the gospel, the good news of Jesus that all Christians believe and to which we cling. Yet what about people who once profess that message who now reject it? What about people who “deconstruct” their faith, discounting and disbelieving everything that doesn’t agree with them? (A terrible movement becoming increasingly popular today.) Is it even possible for those who once professed freedom in Christ to profess it no longer?

The answer is a sad yes. There have been many people who once claimed to be born-again Christians who later rejected the claim, people who once claimed faith in the Biblical gospel that later rejected it or replaced it. Instead of believing in salvation through faith alone in Jesus alone, they either believe in nothing or a false gospel of works. It is Jesus+ their church, Jesus+ their Bible translation, Jesus+ social works, etc. They have left the Biblical gospel for “church-ified” legalism, cloaking self-centered idolatry in the veil of religion.

This is the joint issue of apostasy and false conversion. It is tragically common today and it was just such people that Paul feared would be found among the Galatian churches. This was what he was combatting as he repeatedly countered the false divisive teachers of Judaizing legalism.

Paul addressed some of this head-on in Chapter 3 when re-visiting some of the foundational truths of the Biblical gospel. He wrote how God justifies us through faith in Jesus, how God gives us the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus, and how God makes us His sons and heirs through faith in Jesus. Everything we have with God is through faith in Christ, not through slavish obedience to the law. It isn’t that the law is bad, but it has a certain design. It was not designed by God to justify us but to condemn us. It demonstrates to us our transgressions, chastises us for our sin, and drives us to Jesus as our Savior. Though the law cannot save us, God uses it to take us to Jesus who can.

Once we are saved, we are made sons. Each of us, regardless of our sex or status, are given an equal inheritance in Christ. We are made God’s full-heirs, sharing in all the blessings of Abraham through Abraham’s Seed (Jesus). As heirs, we have glorious freedom and privileges through faith, not only for the eternal future but also in the present as we have the freedom to know God as our Abba Father.

These are wonderful truths for believers! But what if you aren’t really a believer? What if your claim to Christ was pretended and insincere? This was Paul’s fear for the Galatian churches. They identified themselves as Christians, but were they? As we see in our own twisted culture, people can label themselves all kinds of ways, but it doesn’t make it true.

How important it is for us to examine our own hearts and ensure we are in the faith! May God guard us from our own pride, the times we would place our trust in ourselves rather than in Christ alone. May our hearts be ever humble before God that we would be zealous for Christ!

Galatians 4:8–20

• Potential evidence of false conversion (8-11). Where is your trust?

8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.

1. If it seems that Paul is picking up in the middle of a thought, that is because he is. At least, he presents a contrast to an earlier idea that he posed back in vv6-7. There, he wrote “because you are sons,” evidenced by the Spirit of God in them (among other things). Sons of God know God intimately, as our Abba Father (“Daddy,” “Dearest Father”). That is what we as Christians are now, but that is not what we always were. Specifically for the Galatians, Paul knew that there was a point in time that they “did not know God” and that they engaged in the actions of idolaters. They “served those which by nature are not gods.”
2. All false gods are, in fact, not There are many beings worshipped the world over, but there is only one true God, YHWH God. The Creator God who gave His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who revealed Himself in the burning bush and in power on Mt Sinai to Moses; the God who led the children of Israel through the wilderness, etc.; that God is the real God, the only God. That God is the same God revealed to us by Jesus Christ, to the point that when we look at Jesus we see the Father (Jn 14:9). Anything and everything else is either imaginary or demonic. There is no other option. Allah of Islam is not a god. The deity of the Jehovah Witnesses, likewise that of the Mormons is not God. The version of God they claim to worship is a corruption of the true God revealed in the pages of Scripture. If it is not the God of the Bible, it is not a god; it is an idol. Those who worship those things are, by definition, idolaters.
3. What the Galatians were, we all were prior to Christ. We were idolaters. This is true of everyone prior to faith. Even Abram was a pagan idolater before God revealed Himself, as Abram like his father Terah worshipped the same false gods as the rest of those in Babylon (Josh 24:2). We were no different, regardless of what religion we did/didn’t follow. Even atheists are idolaters as they worship themselves and/or their own intellects.

9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?

1. Paul writes of the incongruency of their actions, how the Galatians were returning to slavish bondage of past legalism.
2. Before we look at actions of the Galatians, look first at their implied testimony. They claimed to “have known God,” and indeed, that was Paul’s experience with them. When he was present with them, preaching the gospel to them, it seemed that they knew the Lord. Or better yet (as Paul even seems to correct himself), they were “known by God.” – Consider for a moment the privilege of that statement! As Christians, we are known by God. He not only knows of us; He knows Obviously, the omniscient God knows all people everywhere. He knows every hair on our heads and every molecule in our makeup. This is true of both His children and those opposed to Him. The distinction made by Paul is that God knows us as His children. God knows us as His own. Through His Son Jesus Christ, God knows us and recognizes us also as His sons. Jesus taught the same thing (though from a different perspective) when warning the people in Judea about the possibility of their own false conversion or false faith. Matthew 7:21–23, “(21) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ (23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” What makes the difference between those who are received by Christ and those who are rejected? Whether they do the will of the Father in heaven; whether they are known by Jesus. “Depart from Me, I never knew you,” does not mean that Jesus was ignorant of the person’s identity; it means that Jesus did not know that person as belonging to Him. Yet this is what Paul assures those who truly have faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, who have been made sons of God: we “are known by God.” How glorious! What assurance we have in Him!
3. Despite all that, the Galatians went backwards. Although they were seemingly known by God, they did not find their sufficiency in God. Instead, they turned to the “weak and beggarly elements,” seemingly desiring “to be in bondage.” Instead of rejoicing in the freedom that comes with belonging to Christ, they thought it better to be in slavish bondage to far weaker, insufficient elements. Be it demonism, legalism, or faithlessness, the end result was the same: they were turning away from God to embrace the stuff of this world. — Here’s the problem in Paul’s mind: Does that sound like the actions of those who are saved? The man that is assured of safe travel in an airplane does not randomly decide to jump out without a parachute. Something in that case is terribly wrong. Either something is wrong with the plane, or something is wrong with the man’s confidence in the pilot. Whatever the issue, there is a foundational problem. Such was the case with the Galatians. They supposedly had life and freedom in a real relationship with the living God through the resurrected Christ. How could they turn away from Jesus to long once again for bondage? Why would true born-again Christians, certain of their full salvation in Christ, seek to weaker insufficient things to hopefully ‘complete’ their salvation? Why would they act as if they had no assurance that what Jesus did was sufficient at all? This indicated a foundational problem with their trust, and it caused warning sirens to sound for Paul.
   1. Such lack of assurance ought to cause warning sirens for us, too! It is one thing for Christians to have questions about eternity, along with the occasional doubt. Those are common experiences and thoughts, although they are not where we want to remain. It is another for someone who claims to be a Christian to continually act as if he/she has no hope in Christ. If you find yourself always thinking that Jesus is not enough to save, then it might be a warning sign that you have never surrendered yourself to Jesus to be Consider whom it is of which we speak: Christ Jesus the Lord! If somehow He is incapable, do we honestly think we could do better? Perish the thought! Jesus is our only hope. That is a truth we need to earnestly believe.

10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.

1. Knowing that the overall context of the letter is Paul’s opposition to the Judaizing legalists, the reference is clear. The Galatians were observing the Jewish calendar of feasts. This was how they sought to assure themselves that they were ‘good’ Christians. Maybe they hadn’t yet been circumcised and fully converted to Judaism, but they were doing as much as they could when following the Hebrew calendar. Be it the weekly Sabbaths or the annual feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, etc., if it was in the Hebrew calendar, they desired to celebrate it. In fact, notice the use of the present tense. This wasn’t something that the Galatians were considering; it was something they were already Such was the influence of the Judaizers among them. It caused them to veer from the simple gospel of faith in a shockingly short period of time.
2. Keep in mind that the ancient divisiveness of Judaizing is not dead today. Many teach the supposed importance of Gentile Christians observing the Hebrew feasts, be it from otherwise well-meaning Christians to outright false teachers. The idea is that unless a person celebrates the Old Testament feasts according to the Hebrew calendar, that person will never know the fullness of the faith. Those who keep the Sabbath and various feasts supposedly know God in a deeper way than those who do not. Not so! The only description that the New Testament has for such teaching is Judaizing heresy, legalistic bondage. Let us acknowledge this doctrine for what it is: false.
   1. Does this mean that it is sinful or foolish for New Testament Christians to celebrate the feasts? Remember that nearly all the initial church and 100% of Jesus’ apostles were Jewish (along with Jesus Himself!). That they observed the Hebrew feasts is beyond dispute, being certain. Likewise, any Jewish man or woman who comes to faith in Jesus (Yeshua) as Messiah will likely continue to observe the feasts, albeit through new eyes of faith and understanding. Even Gentile Christians can celebrate the Hebrew feasts in joyful worship. The problem arises when it is taught that Gentile Christians must celebrate the feasts. That is the point that it turns from joy to bondage, from celebration to legalism.

11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

1. Considering how often the Bible exhorts us not to fear, it is notable that Paul feared for this congregation! For good reason! With their sudden turn to, and embrace of Hebraic traditions and laws, it was a clear departure from the simple gospel he taught to them. It made Paul afraid that everything he did and taught among the Galatians had been “in vain,” that his toil/labor had been wasted effort. In short, he was concerned for their salvation, that their profession of faith had been little but false conversion.
2. Question: Was Paul being dramatic? Was this hyperbole? This was sincere concern from someone who knew the true dangers of legalism. Remember that Paul the apostle was once Saul the Pharisee. If anyone knew the ins/outs of Jewish tradition, it was Paul. He remembered how he once thought himself totally justified in his legal obedience. By the standard of his culture, he considered himself blameless concerning the righteousness found in the law (Phil 3:6). And he maintained that view up till the very moment of his conversion. It wasn’t as if Paul had a gradual awakening to his need for Christ. While he was still breathing threats of murder on the road to Damascus hoping to find and imprison Christians, he still considered himself righteous. It wasn’t until the second that Jesus blinded him with glory that Paul understood his own sin and need for grace. Yet it was to that previous state of Paul’s, that the Galatians longed. They sought to hold themselves to that unrighteous, legalistic standard. It was as if Paul’s whole testimony for Jesus was going in reverse. No wonder he feared that his work among the Galatians had been in vain!

The evidence for potential false conversion was among the Galatians, and it shook Paul to his core. He feared for them, that they might not be saved as it seemed their trust was in their faithfulness to feast days, rather than Jesus’ faithful and completed work on the cross. If the Galatians left Christ, what hope did they have? None.

Where is your trust? Do you hope to prove yourself to God? “If I can just do better, if I can just pull myself up by my bootstraps a little more, everything will be alright.” “If I just repeat this prayer a few more times, if I take communion a bit more often, everything will be alright.” “If I just…” There will always be more things that can be done. Granted, there are some things that should be done. After all, we could all spend more time in prayer and reading our Bible and sharing our faith. But when it comes to salvation, our trust is not in those things and can never be! Our trust can only be in Jesus. Everything we do for Jesus needs to flow from our faith in Jesus. If we get that backwards, it is potential evidence of false conversion, that we never understood it right in the first place.

• Paul’s past relationship with the Galatians (12-16). What is your testimony?

12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

1. Before we get to the main idea of the verse, don’t miss the silver lining of hope that Paul held out for this church. Though he feared for their salvation and the potential of his wasted effort among them, he was not yet fully convinced of their apostasy. Notice he still referred to them as “” In his mind, they were still his brothers and sisters in the Lord.
   1. Isn’t it good news that God doesn’t give up on us as easily as we might give up on Him? We might get confused from time to time, or get turned upside down with legalistic ideas, but it doesn’t automatically make us outright apostates. Any one of us might be prone to deception from time to time. Let us hold out hope for those who are confused, that their confusion is only temporary, that they are still true brothers and sisters!
2. Hopefully, these were still brothers, but that didn’t stop Paul from bringing correction. After all, correction was needed! As the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was just the guy to do it. What did he say? “I urge you to become like me.” Not too many of us would feel comfortable giving similar advice! Thankfully, Paul’s lifestyle with Christ was consistent enough for him to tell others, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ,” (1 Cor 11:1), knowing that ultimately men and women would be following after Jesus Himself. Of course, the context for the Galatians was a bit different. Instead of talking about discipleship, he referred to cultural customs. For all that the Judaizers had done to convince these Gentile Galatians to become like the Jews, Paul appealed to them for the opposite. Paul had become like the Gentiles (to an extent), and the Gentile Christians could do what he did.
3. In fact, he already demonstrated an example of this when he initially lived with them preaching the gospel. Though he was a faithful Jewish believer in Jesus, when the apostle to the Gentiles was among the Gentiles, he basically lived as a Gentile. He did not emphasize his Hebrew customs, dress, or kosher diet while ministering in Gentile lands. And all of this, he did without “injury.” Paul wrote of the same concept to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 9:20–22, “(20) and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; (21) to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; (22) to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” In the context of Corinth, Paul did this to ensure he let nothing get in the way of the simple gospel of Christ. He didn’t want a Jewish man tripping over his comfort with the Gentiles or vice-versa. Paul didn’t want people looking at Paul; he wanted them looking at Jesus. To the Galatians, he reminds them of this same practice of his, but from a different perspective. During the times that Paul wasn’t emphasizing his Jewishness, he didn’t experience any harm. It didn’t hurt his walk with Jesus to eat different foods or to enter the homes of Gentiles. All those things were fine, as long as his faith was in Jesus alone. – The true danger/injury would be departing from faith in Christ!
   1. This is the irony of religious legalism. Instead of strengthening our relationship with God, it injures it. It makes us weaker in our faith. We end up putting obstacles between us and Jesus, causing us to rely more on the obstacles than on Christ Himself. Consider what happens with physical injuries. When your arm remains in a cast for 6+ weeks, does your muscle get stronger or weaker? When you start to rely on spiritual crutches, does your faith get stronger or weaker? Weaker. Those who teach legalism want to impose lifelong crutches for Christians. We don’t want the crutch; we want Christ!

13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

1. When Paul first arrived in the Galatian region, he didn’t have it easy. In fact, he preached to them while experiencing physical difficulties, having some form of “infirmity.” What was the issue? We don’t know, although theories abound. Some suspect this was a reference to an issue with Paul’s eyes (something perhaps alluded to in v15, as well as 6:11). Others suggest that perhaps Paul suffered a bout with malaria prior to ministering among the Galatians. A third theory is that Paul referred to injuries resulting from persecution and stoning (Acts 14:19). In all the debate, there is more heat than light. There is little to be gained from all the speculation. The original Galatian Christians reading Paul’s letter knew exactly what he meant. That is enough. We don’t need to know the details of Paul’s physical suffering; it is the fact of his suffering and the Galatians’ love and care for him to which we need to pay attention.
2. BTW: Whose trial was this? Depending on the Bible translation, v14 either reads “my trial,” or “trial to you.” Was it Paul’s trial or the trial of the Galatians? Manuscripts vary, with some saying “my” and other saying “your,” neither affecting the basic meaning of the verse. Paul’s own physical trials would have been trials for everyone involved with him. After all, they would have had to care for him, enduring everything that he endured. Things that might have seemed minor to the mature apostle Paul would have seemed much larger to the baby Christians brand-new to the faith. Whatever the possessive pronoun, the point remains the same. Whatever was going on in Paul’s life and body, the Galatians gladly received him.
3. How much so? They did not treat Paul worse because of his suffering; they welcomed him as one who was blessed of God. That itself was marvelous, as it was not uncommon for people to assume that physical suffering meant that God was displeased with a person. (It wasn’t uncommon then, it wasn’t uncommon with Job, and it still isn’t uncommon today!) Yet the Galatians did not hold to such superstition. They “did not despise or reject” the apostle, but received him as a messenger of God, which he was. Interestingly, the word “angel” can also be translated “messenger,” (the literal meaning of angelos ~ ἄγγελος), but the context is likely that of the supernatural sort of messenger, an angel from heaven. The Galatians afforded Paul as much respect as they would have given Jesus if Christ Himself had arrived. – And rightly so! Paul was an apostle of the Lord Jesus, bearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus telling men and women how they could know and be saved by the Lord Jesus. It is befitting that they would receive him as a human messenger with the respect and attention they would give to the Son of God.
   1. I wonder how we receive those who bring to us God’s own word, those who act as messengers of the living God? Don’t misunderstand: we bow to no man, for we are to worship God alone! But when the word of the living God is proclaimed, do we receive it as if God Himself speaks it? If not, why not? Does not the Spirit of God testify in our hearts when His inspired Scripture is proclaimed? When God’s word turns our eyes upon Christ, do we not look upon Jesus? How precious should be the times we listen to the proclamation of the Bible! How valuable it should be to us, that it would receive our undivided attention! We should seek to receive it as often as possible, taking advantage of every opportunity to drink in the word of God.

15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

1. To pluck out one’s own eyes for the sake of another is intense, to phrase it mildly. When it came to the apostle Paul, the original relationship he had with the Galatian Christians was wonderful. More than giving the apostle the coats off their backs, they were willing to give the eyes out of their sockets! They had so much happiness and joy together with him, the time spent together being truly blessed. There was a unity, a love, a bond between them that seemed to reflect a change within them that could only come from Jesus. There seemed to be a unifying work of the Holy Spirit among them. What happened? What caused it to change?

16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

1. What happened to cause the change? Earlier, the Galatians trusted Paul implicitly. Now, they treated him as an “” What changed? The Galatians’ willingness to receive the truth. Before, they were willing; now, they were hesitant. This was the danger of legalists entering their camp. By giving ear to people teaching false gospels, they allowed themselves to become confused on what the truth actually was. So much had they been influenced, that they even saw Paul as a potential enemy.
   1. Truth threatens legalists. Legalists will inevitably find themselves arguing around the truth, finding some convoluted way of convincing you of their point of view. Yet if it was that obvious, you wouldn’t need to be convinced! Anyone can take a Scripture out of context and force a meaning upon it. But natural reading of God’s word in context will always bring us into God’s truth.

Things had changed among the Galatians! They started out with wonderful reception to the gospel, receiving it with joy. Then things changed, to the point they were no longer certain of what gospel truth was.

When confusion creeps in, go back to the first things. What is your testimony? What was it you first believed when you came to faith in Christ? What was your response at that time to the Bible and the truth of God? Go back to those things. As Jesus later chastised the church at Ephesus, they had left their “first love,” (Rev 2:4), so we might need to be reminded of our first love and return to Him in those foundational things. Don’t allow legalism to cloud what is most important. As Alistair Begg is fond of saying, “The main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things.” Stay to the foundations of the gospel and you will find yourself standing firm.

• Paul’s affection vs. the Judaizers (17-20). For what are you zealous?

17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

1. The “they” is an obvious reference to the Judaizers. Paul didn’t have to name them specifically for their identity to be clear. These Judaizers had a zeal for the Galatian Christians, but not in a good way. They had an interest in the Christians, but their interest was self-serving. Their zeal was intended to be reciprocated. They showed such interest in the Galatians because they wanted them to “be zealous” in return. The more zealous the Galatians were for the Judaizers, the more support the Judaizers would receive. Thus, the more the Judaizers imposed their legalistic teaching on the Christians. “Don’t you want to know how you can be truly pleasing to God? I’ve got all the information you need and would be happy to show it to you. Just send your payment to ___.” It was greed, pure and simple. Greed for riches and greed for influence. The Judaizers wanted to make themselves great, with the Galatians merely being a tool to accomplish their goal. The Judaizers were zealous for them alright, but it was an evil zeal.
2. How did they try to accomplish this? Through exclusion: “they want to exclude you.” The Greek word is interesting as it is related to the word for “key.” The Judaizers wanted to lock the Galatians away from Paul and other godly teachers. They wanted to lock the Galatians up and lock the others out. Like other cults in the present day, the Judaizers arrived in town preying upon newer Christians, shutting them away from proper Biblical influence. The quicker the Galatians could be isolated, the quicker the Judaizers could gain a foothold in their lives.
   1. Why? Again, it comes back to greed. It is little wonder so many false teachers put a focus on money and exclusion. The more they can get Christians to cut themselves from other people, the more money the false teachers can squeeze out of them.

18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

1. Zeal isn’t always bad. Paul was zealous for the Galatians in a good way. He wanted the best for them, not to get rich off them. Granted, Paul was often supported through the financial gifts of the churches but his history clearly demonstrated that he never pushed or pressured anyone for cash. He was willing to work with his own hands, if it meant that the local church would not be burdened. This allowed Paul’s zeal for the churches to be pure. He was zealous for them, that they would be grounded in the gospel of Christ and grow in their faith and love for Jesus. When Paul was zealous, he was “zealous in a good thing.”
2. What Paul demonstrated among the Galatians, he desired to see also among the Galatians. Notice that he does not boast in his own zeal for them. It is certainly implied, but it isn’t his main focus. Instead, he teaches them to be zealous in good things, even when he is not “present” with them. He wanted the Galatians to grow in their Christian maturity that they would have the right zeal for the right things. Their growing zeal for Jewish customs and tradition was not the right zeal; they needed a zeal for the gospel.
   1. What is the right kind of zeal? Our zeal for Christ! Consider the Greatest Commandment: To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and strength. What is that, if not zeal? To love God with your whole being, with all your substance and possessions and intellect and emotion…that is a holy zeal, the grand love to which we are called and commanded. It is Him we should seek with all that we have, that we would learn of Him, yearn for Him, desire to worship Him fully in spirit and truth.
   2. Interestingly, the word for “zealous” can also be translated “jealous” in other contexts. And what does the Bible say of God? He is a jealous God (Exo 20:5, 34:14, et al). Not only is God jealous for His own holiness, we might say that He is jealous/zealous for us. It is only right for us to be zealous for Him! – Do you have this kind of zeal for God? If not, why not? May God kindle it within us anew!

19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, 20 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

1. Again, we need to note how the apostle hadn’t given up on these churches. The phrase “my little children” shows Paul’s ongoing love and hope for them. He didn’t give up on them. Until he saw Christ in them, the work of evangelism was not yet complete.
2. His steadfast hope for them was illustrated in parental love. Paul labored as a mother for them. Already, he birthed them once when first preaching the gospel to them. Apparently, the labor pangs weren’t yet over. Potentially, it had been false labor the first time. There was still work to be done in them.
3. Even so, Paul had doubts about them. He was perplexed, lost as to what to think about them and what to do with them. Although he hoped and longed for the best, he feared for their salvation. As long as he wrote with pen and ink from afar, his doubts would remain. He needed “to be present” among them and see them for himself. Hopefully, when he arrived, he would be able to bear testimony to a good and godly zeal for Christ. Yet for now, he doubted and wondered about them.

Conclusion:

Paul was concerned about these churches, for good reason! There was evidence among them of false conversion being that their trust was found in their religious observances rather than Jesus, their attitude towards the apostle and his preached gospel had changed, and that their zeal and loyalty for Jesus was becoming sketchy. Either the men and women in these churches had been false converts from the start or they were quickly on the slide to apostasy. Neither option was good! Paul truly loved these people and he not only wanted to know that they were soundly saved, but he wanted them to know whether they were soundly saved. It does no one any good to find assurance in false professions; we need faith in the true Christ to be truly saved.

For all the theological debate that rages over eternal security (i.e., Can a person lose his/her salvation?), what often gets lost is the New Testament focus on present assurance. We are often so concerned with whether we might do something terrible in the future that causes us to lose what God graciously gives us – or overly confident in past words spoken by a loved one, who later shows zero interest in Christ – that we forget to look at the issue of assurance the way the New Testament teaches us to look at it. The basic question is simple: Are you in Christ? What is your relationship with Him right now? Are you abiding in Him – do you trust Him – are you zealous for Him right now in the present? We can say with Biblical confidence that our salvation is secure in Christ. Thus, the Biblical application to that is to be in Christ. We neither give ourselves future permission to sin without remorse, nor do we rely on past human works and words to give assurance of what only Christ can give. Our assurance is in Him alone.

The apostle Paul feared for the Galatians because it seemed they no longer relied on Christ. Although he hoped the best for them, he had legitimate doubts whether they were truly saved. Paul had similar doubts with the church at Corinth, and he explicitly called upon them to do something about it. 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” No doubt the same exhortation could have been given to the Galatians. It can also be given to us. Examine yourself! Double-check that your trust is in Christ alone. In what is your salvation based? It cannot be works, be it faithfulness to the Hebrew feasts or your baptismal certificate or a past repetition of the sinner’s prayer. Do you have a clear testimony of turning to Christ in faith, knowing that you have trusted in Him? Do you still have a zeal and desire for Him today? Nobody can answer these questions for you. It remains between you and God. But you must be able to answer these questions, assured that your abiding hope is in Christ alone. Without that, there is no hope at all. (But that can change!)

Let us also beware the subtle slide into legalism. The Galatians did not veer away from the Biblical gospel overnight. (Thankfully, as otherwise Paul would not have held out hope if they were still brothers and sisters!) The more we entertain legalism, the more it will appeal to us. The more value we place on religious ritual, the more we will seek it out. Let us be intentional to keep our eyes and hope on Jesus alone!