Galatians 5:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

NIV: That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

NASB: This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.

CSB: This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

NLT: It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.

KJV: This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

NKJV: This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.

Paul has pointedly asked his Galatian readers: who has tripped them up in the race of following Christ? They were "running well" by following the truth of salvation through faith alone (Galatians 3:23–29). Who redirected their route so that they are no longer obeying the truth? In this segment, Paul seems to be hinting at someone in particular, rather than the general group of Judaizers, who tried to add rituals to the gospel (Galatians 2:4).

Now Paul insists this person—the false teacher—is not the one who "calls" them. Back at the beginning of his letter, Paul identified God as the one calling the Galatians in the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6). In other words, God wants them. He is telling them to trust in Christ. They should not be duped—"hindered" or tripped up—by believing that the words of a false teacher are coming from the Lord.

Instead, what this person is teaching amounts to a false version of the gospel (Galatians 1:6–7), leading those who listen in the wrong direction.

Galatians 5:1–15 focuses on what those in Christ should do with our freedom in Christ. First, we must guard it, especially from those who would pressure us to follow the law. Paul was confident the Galatians would resist the one leading them in the wrong direction. Paul also warns us not to waste our freedom in Christ to selfishly serve ourselves instead of serving each other in love. The entire law is fulfilled in that one word: love. Those who serve themselves, though, will always end up in conflict with each other.

Those who trust in Christ have been set free. Paul's readers were in danger of wasting that freedom, by veering off in one of two directions. On the one hand, false teachers were pressuring them into circumcision in order to be sure of being right with God. On the other hand, freedom can also be squandered on serving only our sinful desires instead of investing it through serving others in love. God's Spirit gives us the power to do that when we let Him lead us. Life in the Spirit bears powerful and positive fruit in a Christian's life.

Galatians 3—4 focused on theology. Galatians 5—6 focus on how Christians should live in response to those truths. In short, we must resist being dragged away from the freedom we have in Christ to follow the law. We must also resist wasting our freedom on serving our sinful desires instead of serving others in love. We can do this by the power of God's Spirit with us. When we give Him the lead, powerful, positive characteristics show up in us. Galatians 6 will show how to use those characteristics to serve each other.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.

Accessed 5/6/2024 8:18:19 AM