In verse 2 Paul speaks of “the churches of Galatia,” a province of the ancient Roman Empire. Through Paul’s preaching ministry, churches were established in a number of cities in that province. Hence, “churches,” not “church,” is used when the apostle refers to them.
The churches in Galatia had been bewitched by the Judaizers (3:1). They had been distracted from Christ to Judaism. A good number of the New Testament believers in the churches of Galatia had turned back to the old Jewish religion and were endeavoring to keep the law with the ordinance of circumcision. This was the background that gave Paul the opportunity to write this wonderful book.
In writing to the Galatians, Paul was very frank and straightforward; he was not in the least political. For example, he called those Judaizers who were troubling the Galatians “false brothers” (2:4). The Galatian believers had been bewitched by these false brothers.
In 1:6 and 7 Paul says, “I marvel that you are so quickly removing from Him Who has called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another; only there are some who trouble you and desire to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Here Paul comes to his subject. Because the churches in Galatia were deserting the grace of Christ and backsliding to the observance of the law, Paul was burdened to write this Epistle. The “different gospel” mentioned in verse 6 denotes the Judaistic observance of the law. The grace of Christ is versus the law of Moses (John 1:17). The Judaizers troubled the churches by perverting the gospel of Christ, or distorting it, thus misleading the believers, taking them back to the law of Moses. However, the observance of the law could never be a gospel that sets free the sinners under its bondage and brings them into the enjoyment of God. It could only keep them as slaves under its bondage.
Because they were distracted from Christ to law, the Galatians were being brought to nought from Christ (5:4). To be brought to nought is to be brought to nothing. In His salvation God has brought us into Christ and has made Christ to be profitable to us in every way. In His redemption God has placed us into His Son who is now everything to us. But the Judaizers had caused the Galatian believers to be distracted from Christ to the law. By turning from Christ to the law, the Galatians were being brought to nothing from Christ. According to the King James Version, Paul said to the Galatians, “Christ is become of no effect unto you.” The Galatians were in a situation where the profitable Christ was of no effect to them. They were being deprived of all the profit that is in Christ and were separated from Him as a result. As the American Standard Version says, they were “severed from Christ.”
In 5:4 Paul also told the Galatians that they had “fallen from grace.” To be brought to nought from Christ is to fall from grace. This implies that Christ Himself is the very grace, and that we, the believers, are in Him as grace. The profitable Christ is grace to us. To be severed from Him is to be fallen from grace.
In 5:4 Paul also points out that the Galatians were seeking to be justified by law. Although they had been justified in Christ, they had gone back to keeping the law and were trying to be justified by the works of the law. What a devilish subtlety! Fallen man cannot be justified before God by keeping the law. The only way to be justified is by faith in Christ, by believing in the Lord Jesus. Nevertheless, the Galatian believers had been bewitched and therefore were trying to keep the law. They were endeavoring to be justified and to please God by their own works.
The Judaizers were also constraining the Galatians to practice circumcision (6:12, 15). In Genesis 17 God commanded Abraham and his male descendants to be circumcised. Any male who refused to be circumcised was to be cut off from God’s people. Circumcision, however, was simply a type of the crucifixion of Christ. The true circumcision that cuts off the flesh is not the circumcision practiced in the Old Testament; it is the crucifixion of Christ. Our flesh can be dealt with only by the cross of Christ. Christ’s crucifixion was the fulfillment of the type of circumcision. Since we have the reality of circumcision, there is no longer the need for the shadow. Nevertheless, the Judaizers turned the Galatian believers from the reality back to the shadow. How foolish!
Furthermore, the Galatians were trying to be perfected by the flesh (3:3). This means that the Galatians were trying to perfect themselves through their own effort, through the works of the flesh, in which there is nothing good. How foolish the Galatians were!