The book of Galatians starts negatively with the evil age of religion, and it closes positively with the human spirit. We were formerly in the country of religion, but now we must remain in the new country of our spirit. We have been delivered out of religion, which was mostly in our mind, to the wonderful enjoyment of Christ in our spirit. Religion has the doctrines, the regulations, the traditions, and the ordinances. But in our spirit we have the living Spirit as the reality of Christ. This is why, when a person stays in his spirit enjoying Christ as grace, he is in another country. He was in the mind, but now he is in his spirit. He was in religion, but now he is enjoying Christ as his grace.
The book of Galatians clearly mentions these two countries of religion and our spirit. We may also call them two realms or two kinds of worlds. From the beginning of the Bible we can see these two sources in the garden. There were two trees: the tree of life, indicating God, and the tree of knowledge, signifying Satan. We all know that religion came out of knowledge. It is an invention of the fallen mind. Knowledge is in our mind. In Genesis 3, Satan got into the mind of man. This means that the tree of knowledge got into fallen man. Later in Genesis we can see that many inventions came out of the fallen mind with the tree of knowledge. The main invention that issued out of the fallen mind is religion.
Some may think that it is too much to say that the present evil age in Galatians 1:4 is religion. But if we understand this book according to the context, we see that the book itself defines this present evil age as religion. The world in this book is religion. Galatians 6:12-13 speaks clearly about circumcision, which is something religious. Then verse 14 says, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Many Christians quote this verse, but they have never realized that this verse is a continuation of the previous two verses. Since the foregoing verses speak about religion, it is clear by the context that the world in verse 14 is religion. Then verse 15 continues, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
By the context of these verses, it is clear that in the book of Galatians both the present evil age and the world mean religion. Religion to the Apostle Paul and to the early Christians was a strong world. Therefore, they had to be delivered from that evil age. It is the same today. Consider the Roman Catholic Church. It is very religious, yet it is so evil. It is an evil, religious world. Many people need to be delivered from that evil religion, that evil world.
The most evil thing, according to Galatians, is to distract people from Christ. God’s will is to reveal Christ into us, to have Christ live in us, and to have Christ formed in us. This is God’s purpose. Yet religion is something that distracts people from this purpose. To human eyes it does not appear so evil, but to God’s eyes it is the most evil thing. God’s intention is to work Christ into us, but Satan’s subtlety is to use religion to keep us away from Christ. It appears good and cultured, yet religion severs more people from Christ than anything else.
To visit the casinos in Las Vegas is undoubtedly to be severed from Christ. But to be religious is considered as approved and commendable behavior. Yet Paul says in Galatians 5 that to be religious is to be severed from Christ, to be fallen from grace. If we have God’s point of view, we will see that anything that severs people from Christ is evil. Even the most moral, ethical, and religious things are evil in the eyes of God, because they sever us from the indwelling Christ.
Paul even tells us in this book that a certain kind of preaching is evil. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). This is not gambling, this is preaching. Even the preaching of a certain kind of gospel is cursed in the eyes of God as a part of the present evil age. This is a part of the world to which Paul was crucified. Paul had nothing to do with this kind of preaching, because now he had Christ revealed in him, living in him, and being formed in him. He only cared for the indwelling Christ.
Praise the Lord that His grace is with our spirit! If we stay in our mind, surely we will be religious, but when we turn to our spirit there is the rich enjoyment of Christ as grace. The tree of life is in our spirit, and the tree of knowledge is in our mind. This is the indwelling Christ in Galatians. He is now dwelling in our spirit to be our enjoyable grace.