Daily Archive

Galatians 2:4 But this was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. 5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

There were those false brethren that Paul calls out who said that they were followers of Christ but proved that they were not. They were underminers. The word that he used there, false brethren, the pseudoadelphos, fake Christians. They are Christian in name only. They claim allegiance to Christ, but their message is a message of bondage to the law.

Their message wasn’t Jewish, because even though they were preaching the need to keep the law, they were keeping the law so that you could come to Christ. Well, the Jews rejected Christ. And they also had issues because their message wasn’t Christian, because it demanded obedience to the law for salvation. So it’s really just not a gospel at all. They are between two camps. They are their own little group, little cult, preaching their own little false gospel. Pseudo -Christians.

They are coming in by stealth. They are coming in secretly, seeking to spy out, and the wording that is used is to sabotage the work of those who are preaching the true gospel of grace. That’s why they gave Paul such fits. They were seeking to sabotage his preaching and his ministry. And as they did this, they would talk like they were Christians and believers. They seemed outwardly to be so. But what we know is that they were exposed. They were false. They weren’t truly Christians. They weren’t truly brothers. And so the term that Paul uses, these are false brethren. They are pseudoadelphus, fake Christians.

They are seeking to enslave new believers and young believers back under the law, but under the teachings of men under legalism. In 2 Timothy 3, we are given the warning, “1 But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, without gentleness, without love for good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Keep away from such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and take captive weak women weighed down with sins, being led on by various desires, 7 always learning and never able to come to the full knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, disqualified in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all, just as theirs was also.”

Janice and Jambress were the magicians in Pharaoh’s court who attempted to replicate the miracles in the place of Moses and they failed and were proven to be frauds. Well, there are those who are coming into the church, they are sneaking in, trying to gain some leverage over people to teach them and the teaching enslaves them. It’s not the gospel of grace. It’s an enslavement to tradition and to the teaching of men. That’s why Jesus warns us in Matthew 15 verse 9, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

They are preaching a substitute gospel, they are preaching a false gospel, they are trying to enslave people to the bondage of believing that my self -righteousness and my ritualistic law -keeping saves me. This is a popular gospel, isn’t it? To tell people what they do can help them save themselves. And that’s the question. You ask anybody on the street, “Why would God let you enter into his heaven?” And the most common answer still is, “Well, I’ve tried to be a good person.”

There it is. “I’ve tried to be a good person. And God will see those efforts in my sincerity and will welcome me in.” But the truth is, not only are we not good people, we don’t do good things. We use the word of God to demonstrate that we cannot work our way in.

Again, there is a belief on the part of some that if you don’t have perfect understanding or practice, then you cannot be saved. This is legalism. And what’s amazing is that these legalist preachers thought that they were living a life so righteous that that was the basis of their salvation. That they kept the law and trusted Christ. And those things combined meant that they were guaranteed a spot in heaven. Paul says they’re false brothers. They’re not even true Christians at all because true Christians we know are free. When you think about the term freedom in relation to our salvation, we are free from law -keeping as a means of salvation. Hallelujah, we are free from that because we can’t do it. How great is it that somebody says, you can’t do this, but don’t worry, you don’t have to?

As a means of salvation, that doesn’t mean do whatever you want, but it means as a means of salvation, you are free from having to keep the law to be saved, because none of us could. You are free from the external rituals that were fulfilled by Christ. This, we know in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” All of those things required for purity, all of the ceremonial laws in the Old Testament, all of the sacrificial laws – Christ fulfilled them so we don’t have to go through all of those rituals. Christ is our sacrifice.

Perhaps even better, we are free from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13 reminds us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” When we think about freedom in Christ, just a few verses, this is the life to which we’ve been called by grace.

But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the letter. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Christ tells us Himself, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). In Romans 6, Paul gives us the promise that having been set free from sin, we became slaves of righteousness. And in Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

We have been called into a glorious freedom and liberty in the Gospel. Free from the requirement to keep the law to try to be saved, because we can’t do it. Free from external rituals, free from the curse of the law, free from sin, free from death, free from self, and one day free from this fallen body.

This is the freedom we have in Christ. This is what the Judaizers were trying to take away by stealth, to deceive people so that they would remain in bondage to their sin. We’re told there in verse 5, Paul says, “to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”

This is not only a description of him and his ministry, but of the council at Jerusalem. Because what’s amazing in that council is that recorded for us in Acts 15, Peter spoke, Paul and Barnabas spoke, James spoke, they issued their decree, the letter. You know who didn’t speak? The Judaizers. The ones who had said, “We’ve been sent here by the apostles to correct Paul’s doctrine.” They weren’t even given a platform to say anything at the meeting. It was so obvious that what they were teaching was false.

Paul says, “we did not yield in submission even for a moment.” We didn’t even let them talk. Why? Because what they say is dangerous. Because they are causing confusion, because they are twisting the word, because it’s false teaching. And false teaching is spiritual poison.

It is crucial, because there are times that we let false teachers say too much as we try to refute them. I think oftentimes, not that it’s wrong to have a minister of apologetics or debate, but I think at times we need to spend more time preaching the truth of the Word of God than we do reciting the errors of the heretics. Preach the truth so that people hear and know the truth.

Paul says we didn’t yield submission so that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. It’s all about that truth of the gospel of grace. Those who deny it have no right to call themselves brethren. They are false brethren. They are false Christians. They are false believers.

To be a Christian, you must have repented of your sin, placed your faith in Christ, and it is that gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Drill that into your thinking if you have not already. This is what Paul defended to the apostles and the elders at Jerusalem, and they confirmed this is the truth. As Jesus instructed us to teach it, don’t yield to the false teachers. Keep preaching that truth, and as we do, we see that God will free more and more people from the bondage of sin.