Jason Silver

Sunday, May 18th, 2025

Running the Wrong Race? The Law and the Gospel

The lyrics to this particular song (and consequently, scripture), “Running the Good Race” from Galatians 5:7-15 are strange.

Okay, not all of it. The apostle Paul starts off by reminding these Celtic people, the Gauls of Galatia, that they started out strongly in their faith. He's curious why they stopped running “this good race,” and states clearly that their recent behaviour does not come from God.

If I'm reading this for the first time, I might think Paul's going to encourage me to run harder! I might wonder if he'll flesh out the exercise metaphor. Perhaps he'll entreat me to push myself even when I'm exhausted, or to keep my eyes on the prize. Maybe he wants me to be encouraged by a great cloud of witnesses in heaven, cheering me on. He's said these kinds of things in his other letters.

But actually, that's not what he's doing at all. He switches metaphors from sports to bread. He cautions the Galatians that a little misapprehension of the Gospel will infect all they do and believe. Just like yeast in bread, it will end up spreading into every facet of their faith.

So what's this change he's so worried about? What's this metaphorical yeast? Why does Paul say that those teaching these new theologies will be punished?

The yeast is bad teaching.

Here's what was going on: teachers have been coming into their community, and telling them that they need to obey the whole law. Specifically, they're telling the men to submit to circumcision. For some unknown reason, the Galatians haven't recognized these teachers as infiltrators, but have been fooled! Maybe they're attracted to the idea of having more of a role in their salvation? Maybe the teachers have appealed to their desire to please God through obedience? We don't really know, but I think we can imagine a few reasons these Galatians were caught up in this heresy.

Why does Paul care so much about circumcision? Why does he say he wishes the false teachers would just cut everything off, making themselves into neutered eunuchs?

It's because this non-Gospel symbolizes a change in how they are viewing their salvation. They now are acting like salvation doesn't come by faith alone, but through obedience to the law of Moses. He's so impassioned about this because these baby Christians are risking everything because of bad teaching.

This is crucial! The essential point of Christianity is that we are not saved by what we do, but rather by accepting what Jesus has done for us in order to rescue us from our sinful condition.

I have regularly encountered people on Facebook and YouTube who claim faith in Christ, yet submit themselves to the Hebrew law. This message is for them.

Jesus has brought a new covenantal relationship from God, one based on faith alone. But these false teachers are resurrecting the old covenant between Abraham and God, which was sealed through circumcision. (If the term is unfamiliar to you, think of a covenant as a sacred agreement, where God says, “Here’s my promise to you,” and “You do this for me.” It’s not just a deal—it's a deep, binding commitment.)

Submitting to the old law-based system is the real issue. After Jesus' sacrifice, we are invited to take part in a new covenant with God that is not dependent on us, but rather completely dependent on Him. If we believe that the work is finished through Christ's sacrifice, it makes no sense at all to then depend on ourselves, on our adherence to the law, and especially not to depend on circumcision as if it's a necessary process in order to be saved!

You see, we have a freedom now through Christ Jesus! Paul wants to be clear that this doesn't mean we should abuse this freedom, purposely pursuing the gratification of the flesh, or breaking the laws God has outlined for us. I must understand my relationship to law and obedience. It is not salvific (it doesn't change our position before God, nor contribute to being more acceptable to him). Rather, obedience is responsive. We are transformed into humans who desire to please God, while at the same time knowing our attempts will never be enough.

None of the laws from the Old Covenant were ever enough to save us anyway! Circumcision is one such example of the law, but the new law, according to Paul, is a law of love!

Those judging and criticizing these Galatian believers for not following the law are tearing one another apart. Paul wants us all to know that this kind of behaviour leads to the destruction of all involved!

If you're tempted to put your faith in yourself, whether that be in your obedience to law, your right theological views, your alignment with a specific tradition, or in any other thing that is somehow not dependent on God, then you're missing the Gospel.