Download discussion questions: Galatians 5:1-7
Calvary Institute – Fall 2018 Index
Discussion
This week we took a slightly different approach from our usual time of looking at the passage individually before our discussion. Instead, we divided into groups of three (with no family members in the same group) to begin discussing the passage in the smaller “triad” context. This week’s passage (Galatians 5:1-7) was also considerably shorter than most previous sections we studied. One of the goals of Calvary Institute is to make joyful, passionate disciples who make joyful, passionate disciples. A significant part of that process is learning from one another as we study Scripture together.
Contrasts
When we came back together to share our discoveries, one person pointed out the string of contrasts that runs through the passage: freedom / slavery (v. 1), law / grace (v. 4), law / Spirit(v. 5), and circumcision / uncircumcision (v. 6). Paul’s whole letter has been about the irreconcilable contrast between law and faith as the source of a right standing with God. This section begins to looklike a summary of all those arguments found in the preceding chapters.
Someone mentioned that the passage begins with Paul telling the Galatians to “stand firm”(v. 1), implying that they were in a good place and should not move away from it. Perhaps at least some of the believers had not yet followed the “different gospel” he had warned them about (Galatians 1:6). He was encouraging them to “stand firm” in the true gospel they had received from him. Another person pointed out that the passage ends with a reference to “running well” (v. 7). Paul may have been mixing his metaphors, or maybe he suggested that their “running well” was about to go into a wrong direction, and they needed to stand firm in the gospel. (Those kinds of speculations are interesting but should not be pressed too far. Maybe he was simply using two different illustrations to make his point.)
Other people in our group noted the severe-sounding words Paul uses, the “yoke” (the heavy, restrictive burden one member suggested, v. 1), “no advantage” (v. 2), being “obligated” (v. 3), and the consequences as being “severed” and “fallen away” (v. 4). Someone commented about slavery as the condition where you work very hard but don’t really benefit. Another person observed that the harsh segment (v. 1-4) is followed immediately by a very hopeful sentence, “For through the Spirit by faith, we ourselves eagerlywait for the hope of righteousness” (v. 5).
The Hope of Righteousness
One writer calls that hopeful sentence “the climax of Paul’s argument in the letter.”[1] We noted a subtle but certainly intentional shift in Paul’s pronouns:
- Christ has set us free (v. 1)
- If you accept circumcision (v. 2-4)
- We ourselveseagerly await (v. 5)
Paul begins withthe condition of all genuine believers, freedom in Christ, and the “us” in verse 1 includes the Galatians. However, Paul separates himself from the Galatians who are considering circumcision as the basis of knowing God (“I, Paul, say to you…”). Finally, in contrast to the harsh realities of following the law, he emphatically returns to the liberating effect of depending on the finished work of Christ, the passionate anticipation of God’s work in believers. The “we ourselves” is unequivocal, including only those “in Christ” (v. 6) who know that justification is only available “through the Spirit, by faith” (v. 5) and not by following any set of rules or laws.
That hope fulsentence in verse 5 provoked considerable discussion. What is the “hope of righteousness”? We talked about common uses of the word “hope”that are not much different from wishful thinking, such as “I hope my team wins the big game.” A more definitive kind of anticipation can also be called hope, as in “The doctor’s report gives me hope of a full recovery.” However, we concluded that “hope” in the Biblical sense (as in this passage) carries a sense of sure expectation, certainty, or assurance. One member quoted Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is key to the assurance dimension of hope.
The power of the phrase “hope of righteousness” came out in our discussion when we considered the question, “What is the hope for those following the law, obligated to keep the whole law?” The consensus of our group that hope in that circumstance would be limited to, “I hope I’m good enough. I hope I have kept enough of the law.”
Only “through the Spirit,” God’s supernatural work in our heart, that we experience “by faith” can we “eagerly await” what God is continuing to do. One member of our group suggested “eagerly await” (appropriate to the season) sounds like kids on Christmas Eve. They know something really good is coming,but they have to wait.
Our group discussed what “righteousness” Paul meant. He could have had in mind our present growth in righteousness as Christis formed in us (4:19). Or he could have had in mind our future perfected righteousness, the reality of our justification experienced in the future paradise. A writer points out that “Paul uses this verb [apekdechometha, ἀπεκδεχόμεθα] five other times, in each case referring to eschatological anticipation.”[2] In other words, Paul’s customary use of the word is to refer to a future reality. In this case, by faith through the work of the Spirit we anticipate standing in righteousness before God the Father, accepted because of the work of Jesus the Son.
Waiting is part of the excitement of Christmas: what will that big present be? Waiting is part ofthe excitement of the Christian life. We are waiting for “the hope of righteousness.” What will each of us look like when we actually display the perfect righteousness that God intended for us when He made us in His image? What will it be like to stand before Him radiating the righteousness of Christ? That hope, that eager waiting is the anticipation that enables our endurance in our present circumstances.
[1] DouglasJ. Moo, Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic,2013), 327.
[2] DouglasJ. Moo, Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic,2013), 327;
He references Romans 8:19, 23, 25; 1 Corinthians 1:7; and Philippians 3:20.