TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 2:6-10
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TODAY IN THE WORD
In his album ""Present Reality,"" musician and writer Michael Card explores the Christ-centered heart of Paul. Introducing the album, he writes: ""Paul was caught up in the transforming power of the realization that Christ is both living and present. The mystery of Christ, he called it, the hope of glory.""

One song contains these gospel lyrics, based on Galatians 3: ""[God] made a better way / When the moment was right He sent His own Son / And He opened the way so that everyone / Could have hope...""

As Paul continues in today's reading to defend his apostleship, his commitment to the gospel is a constant theme. The greatness of the other apostles' reputations didn't matter to him--his gospel came from God Himself (v. 6). The message of a Christian worker is not superior or right because of the greatness of the worker. From the context it is clear that Paul does not mean to degrade the position of the Jerusalem leadership. The respect he gives them is evident from the very fact that he comes to them for a definitive solution to a knotty problem.

James, Peter and John recognized that Paul had been made an apostle to the Gentiles as Peter had been to the Jews (v. 7). They also recognized that Paul had not launched into a ministry to the Gentiles on his own; God had entrusted it to him (1 Cor. 9:17). The other apostles reached the conclusion that Paul had a commission equal to Peter's because they saw that God had wrought just as great spiritual works through the one as through the other (Gal. 2:.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When Paul was commissioned and sent off (vv. 7-9), he became the forerunner for world missions.

How much do you know about the missionaries supported by your church or denomination? Are you up-to-date on their ministries and prayer requests? Here are several ideas for becoming more involved with your church's missions program: (1) Browse the bulletin board for recent prayer letters. Sign up to receive one. (2) As a family, adopt a missionary family to pray for and correspond with. (3) Begin financially supporting one missionary or missionary family on a regular basis.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 2:11-13
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Those who don't practice what they preach are hypocrites, perhaps none more so than those who preach God's Word.

Yet according to a newsletter of the Global Evangelization Movement, ecclesiastical crime is on the rise. From a tab of just $300ꯠ at the start of this century, and only $5 million in 1970, the loss is expected to top $13 billion by the year 2000. As the newsletter's editor points out, that will exceed the total spent for global foreign missions!

Ministers stealing? What a shocking inconsistency between words and actions! A similar situation of inconsistency developed in Antioch, and it led to Peter's being guilty of hypocrisy.

After the Jerusalem Council, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch. Great rejoicing occurred there over the council's decision (found in Acts 15:19-20). Gentiles were not under law but were expected to avoid certain pagan religious and social practices for the sake of their Christian testimony.

For a while all went well in Antioch. Such great love sprang up between Jewish and Gentile believers that they ate the agape-feast, or love-feast, together. This practice was an emblem of Christian unity, and the interruption of it was sure to harm the church. An outbreak of division in the church, contributed to by Peter, therefore drew fire from Paul (v. 11). He opposed Peter openly, the only way to clearly support the principle of Christian liberty.

What had happened? As a result of a visit by Jews from the Jerusalem church, pressure was exerted on Jews in Antioch not to eat with Gentiles, but to be more scrupulous about law-keeping. Peter, who had taken such a forceful stand for Jewish fellowship with Gentiles (Acts 11:1-18), buckled under social pressure (Gal. 2:12). When Peter capitulated, other Jews found it hard to stand against the tide. Even Barnabas ultimately fell before the social pressure (v. 13).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Even a great apostle like Peter was not immune from the disease of hypocrisy (v. 13). What about us?

Throughout the Gospels, Christ had harsh words for hypocrites. Hypocrisy or inconsistency hurts our witness for Him, which is why Paul had to confront Peter about his behavior. If Peter fell prey to this sin, we certainly can fall prey to it as well!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 2:14-19
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TODAY IN THE WORD
As the American Civil War dragged on, significant Christian revivals occurred among both Union and Confederate troops. One chaplain commented: ""The whole army is a vast field, ready and ripe to the harvest...The susceptibility of the soldiery to the gospel is wonderful...With the simplicity of little children, they listen to and embrace the truth.""

Lifestyles changed as well. As soldiers trusted Christ, they abandoned the profanity, gambling, drinking, sexual immorality and petty thievery that had up to that time characterized many army units.

The gospel changes lives. For the soldiers to return to their old ways would have been a backward step of hypocrisy. So when Peter stepped back toward legalism, Paul had to confront him for the sake of the gospel.

Paul challenged Peter (v. 14): If you, a born Jew, live like a Gentile, why do you now by example compel Gentiles to live as Jews? Obligation to law-keeping would not be ""in line with the truth of the gospel"" or the pronouncements of the Council of Jerusalem.

In fact, no one can be justified by observing the law (v. 16). The law was a standard of conduct so exacting that no one ever kept it wholly; therefore, all the law could do was condemn (cf. Rom. 3:20). Justification, or being declared righteous in God's eyes and released from any condemnation resulting from failure to keep the law, comes by faith in Christ (cf. Rom. 3:21-24).

The law demanded death for lawbreakers: all stood condemned to death for their sins. The solution? The Lord of glory became incarnate and paid the penalty. Once any law has exacted the death penalty, it cannot do so again. If we are joined to Christ by faith in His finished work, we share in His fulfillment of the righteous demands of the law. The law has killed Him and us, and we are no longer subject to the law.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Where did Peter go wrong in his behavior? What made him turn from living by grace to living by law? One factor was peer pressure. He didn't want to be thought poorly of by the Judaizers.

Peer pressure is a powerful force. ""Everybody's doing it,"" the saying goes. And Peter in turn set a bad example and led others astray. Had he taken a stand, he might have exerted ""positive peer pressure.""

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 2:20-21
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TODAY IN THE WORD
A strip of zinc and a strip of copper are suspended in a salt solution. Although the zinc and copper atoms are losing and gaining electrons, both strips maintain an equilibrium. Then the two are connected with an electrical conductor. Electrons are forced through it from the zinc strip to the copper strip. As long as the conductor is present, a chemical reaction keeps the electrons flowing.

Sound impressive? That describes one of the most common power sources in the world--an ordinary battery.

Paul might have asked in today's reading: What are the ""batteries"" for Christian living? Is there power in keeping a set of rules? Or does it flow from our being crucified with Christ?

Verse 20 makes it abundantly clear that Christianity is not a matter of legalism--of carefully checking off a list of dos and don'ts. Neither is it a human effort to bring off a superior kind of morality, but divine life surging through the individual.

This reliance on God as our ""power source"" follows from verse 19. Paul died to the law because he had been crucified with Christ; he lived to God because Christ lived in him.

""I live."" But in a sense it is not ""I"" who live, not ""I"" in my own strength who achieves. Instead, ""Christ lives in me."" Incredible! What a powerful cure for discouragement, frustration and weakness! And what a warning against returning to law (Gal. 4:9).

Instead, says Paul, I live the Christian life by faith. At the end of the verse comes a final reminder that the sacrifice of Christ is ultimately responsible for all that Christians are and all the blessings we enjoy.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
As you may have already discovered, we at Today in the Word recommend Scripture memorization as an excellent spiritual discipline (Psalm 119:11). If you haven't already memorized Galatians 2:20, these classic words would make an outstanding recharge for your ""spiritual batteries.""

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:1-5
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TODAY IN THE WORD
American statesman Frederick Douglass was originally born into Southern slavery. The story of his early life is found in his first autobiography, published in 1845.

There he writes of his escape to freedom: ""I felt as one may imagine the unarmed mariner to feel when he is rescued by a friendly man-of-war from the pursuit of a pirate...I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.""

In Douglass' later career, he became a famous orator, civil official, and African-American leader. Would he have surrendered his freedom and returned to slavery? What an absurd question! Of course not. Yet from Paul's perspective, the Galatians were giving up their newfound freedom in Christ and willingly entering into the bondage of the law.

Having defended his apostleship and the authority of his message, Paul now vindicates the truth of his message. In today's reading, he tells the Galatians that their reason and experience should have convinced them of the all-sufficiency of faith. ""You foolish Galatians!"" (v. 1) means not that the Galatians were stupid or senseless but that they have been foolish in allowing themselves to deny the sufficiency of Christ.

Paul declares irrational the mixture of law-keeping with faith in Christ and implies that they should have been able to reach this conclusion themselves.

As Paul begins, he is willing to rest his case on one issue: ""Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?"" (v. 2). The question the apostle raises is rhetorical. The Galatians knew very well that their salvation and accompanying spiritual power (v. 5) had come by faith alone.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Paul reminds the Galatians of their conversion and original faith in order to address the error of legalism and bring them back to the truth.

Have you also been reflecting on your testimony, the ""personal history"" of your faith? We're checking back with you on the suggested application for April 3rd. Do you feel confident in sharing your testimony? Does it include basic gospel truths so that another person could trust Christ by hearing it?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:6-9
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The Book of Virtues, William Bennett's best-seller, kicked off a national trend linking stories and values--or rather, a recognition of the already-existing link between what we value and the stories we tell. The idea is that the best stories show characters and actions that we will want to imitate or ideas that we will want to incorporate in our lives. A story, then--from history, literature or other sources--can act as a moral teacher.

Mark Twain's story of Huckleberry Finn, for example, forces us to evaluate the morality of Huck's actions as he befriends an escaped slave and helps him--an action his society condemns but which readers have many reasons to find admirable. In the novel, we witness Huck's inner moral wrestlings and choices. The way we understand and respond to Huck's struggles tells a lot about our own moral character and choices.

In his attempt to prove the doctrine of justification by faith, Paul appealed to the story of Abraham. Jews or Judaizers would have had high regard for Abraham. In fact, the Judaizers were urging the Galatians to be circumcised as Abraham had been. Paul appealed to them on the basis of the fact that the children of Abraham were not under law but under promise.

Abraham's faith (v. 6) was anchored in the person of God and His promises. Abraham committed himself totally and unreservedly to his God. Righteousness was not inherently his but was given to him by God on the basis of faith; works were not involved in obtaining justification. This lesson would not have been lost on the Galatian Judaizers.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Since Paul uses Abraham to illustrate his points both here and later in Galatians 3, this might be a good time for you to refresh yourself or your family on the history of Abraham and Sarah.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:10-14
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Ukrainian Christian Yan Romanovitch grew up in an atmosphere of poverty and abuse.

When Yan's father crippled his Christian mother in a drunken rage, he was sent to a special school for children--a virtual orphanage. Later, when he married a government official's daughter and gained money and power, he thought his life would change.

But inner pain and emptiness remained. Yan took to drinking and fighting and left his wife and job. One day he cried out, ""If you are real, God...change me.""

One week later, while shopping in the marketplace, he met four Christian workers. They witnessed to him and led Yan to a saving faith in Jesus Christ!

As Paul describes the goodness of God in saving us, he shows the impossibility of justification by the law and deliverance from the works of the law through Christ.

If we are condemned by the law (v. 10), it is evident that no one can be justified by law-keeping (v. 11). ""The righteous will live by faith,"" the apostle says, quoting Habakkuk 2:4. In doing so, he shows that even under law the way of faith was superior to the legal way. Underscoring this point, he declares that in the law works were the fundamental but hopeless principle (Gal. 3:12).

Paul now gladly turns to the positive side of his argument: ""Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law"" (v. 13). To ""redeem"" is to pay the purchase price. It is as if Christ entered the slave market and paid the required number of sesterces (Roman coins) for those in bondage. The curse of death for sin came upon Him, and His substitutionary death on our behalf released us from the curse (2 Cor. 5:21; Is. 53:6).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
If we all ""got what we deserve,"" we'd be in big trouble! Sin deserves death, and we've all sinned. But Christ paid the price (v. 13), and by His grace we can now live as children of God.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:15-18
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TODAY IN THE WORD
One stormy and extremely cold Sunday morning, a minister was on his way to church. On the road he met one of his neighbors, who, shivering miserably, said to him, ""It's very chilly, sir.""

""Oh,"" replied the minister. ""God is as good as His word.""

The other, not comprehending, asked what he meant. The minister answered: ""God promised about three thousand years ago, and He still makes it good today, that 'as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat...will never cease.'""

The minister's reply was meant as a joke, but his point is true: God always keeps His covenants and promises.

In today's reading Paul observes that when a human covenant is ratified, no one sets it aside or amends it, neither the author nor a second party (v. 15). Of course the implication is that if that is true with people, it is even more true with God. A second covenant, the law, could not set aside the promise made to Abraham (v. 17).

The Abrahamic covenant could only be fulfilled by Christ (v. 16). Only in the infinite Son of God could all the families of the earth be blessed. But Christ is viewed in this chapter as also being the head of a new family; all who receive Him by faith become sons of Abraham in a spiritual sense (Gal. 3:28-29).

A most startling and amazing truth becomes clear. The age of law was merely a parenthesis between the age of promise and the age of grace (v. 18). All of the legalistic teaching the church has endured for nearly two thousand years is entirely incompatible with the teachings of grace and the spirit of promise.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Two days ago, we suggested that you review the biblical narrative of Abraham and Sarah. If you did so, you probably found yourself held spellbound by a story filled with impossible promises, difficult journeys, angelic visitors, and obedient faith.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:19-22
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TODAY IN THE WORD
In 1838 the British government sent word to Jamaica that slavery was at an end and that therefore those who were slaves were now free. On that night of emancipation, a mahogany coffin was made. Former slaves filled the coffin with whips, branding irons, coarse clothing, handcuffs, and other tools and symbols used during their years of bondage.

The coffin lid was bolted shut and at midnight the coffin was lowered into a grave, dug especially for the occasion. Then the thousands gathered celebrated their new freedom by singing the doxology!

Once released, people who have known slavery would never willingly surrender their freedom. Instead, they move forward joyfully to a new way of life. This is the very point Paul is trying to make to the Galatians. ""You have been set free from the law's condemnation,"" he tells them, ""so start acting like it!""

If the law is not in force for the believer now that Christ has come, what good was it? What function did it serve? The answer is that the law was given until the Seed should come and that it was therefore only preparatory, ending with the coming of Christ (v. 19).

If law is inferior to promise, is there opposition between these two divine arrangements? Paul says, ""Perish the thought."" The law is all right as far as it goes, but it really could not compete with the promise because it could not give life.

The function of the law was to convict transgressors. The picture in verse 22 is variously painted by translators as ""shut up like a fish enclosed in a net,"" ""enclosed entirely by barriers,"" and ""shut up on every side as in a prison."" Everything pertaining to men--thoughts, words, and deeds--is all locked up and thus doomed under sin.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We've nearly reached the halfway point of our study of Galatians. We hope you are enjoying and learning from this meaty book!

We suggest today that you sit back and reorient yourself to the ""big picture"" of Paul's epistle. (If you're working today on the tax forms that are due tomorrow, you could do one of these activities as a break!)

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:23-25
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TODAY IN THE WORD
A good teacher is like a guide, not only knowing but also showing the way. A teacher's life-experience can be a valuable part of a student's learning experience.

With these axioms in mind, in 1986 evangelist Leighton Ford began a ministry to find and develop young evangelical leaders. In 1992, he started the Arrow Leadership Program, a focused, group-oriented, two-year training program emphasizing evangelism and leadership skills.

Ford told Christianity Today: ""I sensed a desire among the younger generation of emerging leaders for a highly personalized leadership development program. They hungered for mentoring relationships with older leaders and affirmation between peers--and above all, a program that stressed character development alongside skills for growing ministries.""

As Paul explains in today's reading, the law was God's ""development program"" for the Jews, teaching and guiding them. First, yesterday's main idea continues: that the law led to the fulfillment of the promise. The verb in verse 23 often has the connotation of protecting rather than imprisonment for punishment, and probably should be so understood here. God protected His children from the excesses of the heathen nations through the controls of the law. The purpose of this protective function of the law was to urge or push people to faith.

In verse 24 the law as a teacher leads men to faith. In Greek the law is called ""paidagogos,"" not a ""didaskalos."" In other words, the law was an inferior slave or servant (""paidagogos"") committed with the task of bringing the master's son to school or to the schoolmaster (""didaskalos""). The ""pedagogue"" was charged with disciplining the child and giving him moral training, by protecting him and regulating his outward habits. That was all the law could do; but when it led the son to Christ, its work was finished. Christ was the schoolmaster (""didaskalos""), a point of Paul's illustration which would have been clear to the Romans of that day.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Salvation is one of the most precious gifts God has given us. As we've been studying Galatians, our hope is that you are gaining a greater appreciation for God's grace and our redemption in Christ.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:26-29
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Oliver Otis Howard, a New England abolitionist, served as a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. He never drank, smoked or swore, and his soldiers called him ""Old Prayer Book.""

After the war, Howard led the Freedmen's Bureau, a government effort to assist former slaves. He helped to found a university for African-Americans in 1867--Howard University, today one of the leading black universities in America. He also stirred controversy when he tried to integrate a church.

Howard understood the truth of today's verse: racial and ethnic barriers have no place in the body of Christ.

Despite Jew-Gentile frictions, Paul could give his Gentile converts in Galatia the assurance: ""You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus"" (v. 26). ""Through faith"" should be underscored because again and again in this epistle the apostle means to emphasize faith as opposed to works.

Those who have received Christ by faith have been baptized into Him (v. 27). They have been linked to Him in a living union and made positionally to participate in His death, burial and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4).

In the process they have also ""put on Christ"" or ""clothed"" themselves with Christ. This is a reference to a significant ceremony for a young Roman male. When he came of age he was invested with the toga virilis, signifying that he was now a grown-up son, with the accompanying rights and responsibilities.

The image helps to explain how we mature as God's children. We are joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit and clothed with Christ's robe of righteousness, by which means we can stand before God without fear of condemnation.

In this divine family all are one in Christ (Gal. 3:28). None of us are entitled to superior Christian privileges, no matter what our spiritual or cultural background. A beautiful example of this is seen in the slave Onesimus, who in Christ became a ""dear brother"" to his master Philemon (Philemon 16).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Galatians 3:28 captures the tremendous reality of believers' unity in Christ.

What distinctions or barriers separate Christians in our culture or community? Barriers of race? Social class? Economic status? Education? Career choice? It's time to break down those walls!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 4:1-7
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The story is told of an English nobleman who worked for many years as a railway porter, unaware of his true identity. One day a gentleman entered the railway station, made some inquiries, and asked the porter his name. Upon hearing it, the visitor said, ""I have come to tell you that you are an Earl and entitled to a large estate.""

Do you think that man continued to behave as a railway porter? Certainly not. He rushed from the station to take possession of his inheritance! We as Christians should do the same. From Paul's perspective, however, the Galatians were acting like children, failing to claim their inheritance.

In today's reading humanity is presented as a child until Christ's coming, when the guardian (law) was done away. In Paul's day, as long as he was a child, an heir was no better off than a slave, though he be lord of the whole estate by title and birthright.

In verse 3, the apostle applies this legal rule of society to our Christian lives. Once we were spiritually like children. But the gospel wrought a remarkable change, by which we were transformed from a position of spiritual childhood to adult sonship.

What is the gospel? God sent His Son (v. 4). Taking on human form so He could identify with fallen humanity, the Son was born of a woman. Born under the law, He perfectly kept that law, fulfilled it, and ultimately paid its curse for all mankind.

The result of redemption (v. 5) is adoption to divine sonship. The voice of the Holy Spirit within believers confirms their sonship and cries out to the Father in love (v. 6).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Salvation by faith is one of the great truths that fueled the Reformation. But this is just the beginning of what God intends for His heirs.

Martin Luther, for instance, found that saving faith undergirds Christian love: ""Lo, thus from faith flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a joyful, willing and free mind that serves one's neighbor willingly and takes no account of gratitude or ingratitude, of praise or blame, of gain or loss.""

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 4:8-11
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Earlier this month, we told you about Frederick Douglass and noted that the idea that he would have given up his freedom to return to slavery was ridiculous. Who would ever want to make such a trade?

Strangely enough, the Bible records that the Israelites wanted to do exactly that! During their exodus from Egypt to Canaan, they grumbled against Moses and the Lord. Tired of manna, they spoke fondly of the food they had enjoyed in Egypt (Num. 11:5-6)--apparently ""forgetting"" their slavery there. Later, discouraged by the spies' report on the Canaanites, the Israelites wondered aloud if Egyptian slavery wouldn't be better than what God had in store for them (Num. 14:2-3).

According to the apostle Paul, the Galatians were being equally foolish. Now that he has in this epistle shown them their exalted position as sons and heirs of God, therefore free to enjoy spiritual adulthood, he appeals to them not to return to bondage.

The Galatians had come to know God (Gal. 4:9). But so that they didn't try to take any credit for this, Paul reminded them that, ""rather,"" they had come to be known by God. He had chosen them and predestined them to the adoption of sons (Eph. 1:4-5) and attracted them by His Spirit to come to know Him personally.

In light of this, how could they turn again to bondage? As Gentiles they had suffered under the bondage of heathenism. Now as converted Gentiles, why did they want the bondage of Jewish legalism? The Galatians meticulously observed special days (Gal. 4:10) with the belief that this would gain them merit, but this is entirely out of keeping with the spirit of Christian liberty. Every day is to be lived for the glory of God!
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Based on salvation through God's grace, Paul urges the Galatians not to return to legalism and bondage. If they would apply the truths they already knew, they would change their ways.

What about us? Are we living ""out of sync"" with the basis for our salvation? Here's a question to ponder: Given what God says about salvation, grace and faith, what would my life look like if I lived it 100% in line with these truths?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 4:12-16
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Advertisers understand the power of imitation. If a famous basketball player puts his name on a pair of shoes, young athletes and fans rush out to buy them. If a beautiful actress uses a certain brand of shampoo, women who want their hair to look and feel better may purchase it. If a hard-working Baby Boomer finds cold relief in a favorite medicine, those who empathize will remember that ad the next time they go shopping.

""You can become like this person"" is the message of such ads. ""You'll play better basketball."" ""You can be as beautiful as she is."" ""You deserve to feel as good as that person.""

Advertisers take a powerful human drive, the urge to imitate, and use it to turn a profit. Paul, however, uses it to teach. In today's passage, he appeals to the Galatians to imitate his example.

""Become like me, for I became like you"" (v. 12). As a Jew, Paul was very faithful in keeping the law, but after his conversion he became like the Gentiles--no longer living under the law.

Then a curious thing happened. The Galatians, who as Gentiles were not under the law, after their conversion put themselves under the law. So Paul pleads: Live like me, enjoy your Christian liberty.

The first time Paul came among the Galatians, he did not plan to stay for any length of time. However, when he contracted a serious illness (probably malaria), he had no choice but to stay for a while (v. 13). During his recuperation he preached the gospel and many believed.

The Galatians did not succumb to the temptation to despise either Paul or his message because of his illness and his weakened condition (v. 14). Instead they received him as an angel, a heaven-sent messenger, a representative of Christ Jesus. The apostle freely bears witness to the Galatians of their love. If possible they would have dug out their eyes and given them to him.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Paul is a good model for us to imitate in our relationships and ministries. Even as he steers his way through complex theological issues, his pastor's heart shines through. In this chapter, he calls the Galatians his ""dear children,"" longs to be with them, is ""perplexed"" about them, and spiritually feels ""the pains of childbirth"" on their behalf. His spiritual passion puts our own to shame.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 4:17-20
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TODAY IN THE WORD
American Gwen Torrence ran hard, but she ran outside the lines. At the 1995 World Championships, she was disqualified in the 200-meter race when she broke the rules by running out of her lane. Coming around a curve, Torrence stepped on or over the inside line of her lane at least five times, shortening the distance she sprinted compared to that of the other athletes. Her gold medal was awarded to another runner.

Running outside the lines, no matter how fast, is useless in a race. Similarly in the race of the Christian life, zeal in the wrong direction is useless and possibly harmful. And for Paul, legalism was definitely the wrong direction!

Continuing his argument against legalism, Paul warns the Galatians against following poor-quality, insincere leaders (v. 17). Despite their zeal, the Judaizers were not pursuing the best interests of the Galatian converts. In their efforts to separate themselves from Paul's influence and teaching, they were depriving the Galatians of the true gospel and the true church.

So that the Galatians wouldn't conclude that he wanted to monopolize their affections, Paul says, ""It is fine to be zealous""--the issue is whether for a good cause or a bad cause (v. 18). He would not be hurt if they followed the teachings of others, as long as their course of action was honorable. As in Philippians 1:15-18, his only concern is that the gospel be preached and God be glorified.

But the Galatians had been zealous in error. The Judaizers had turned them away from the gospel of grace. When Paul was with them the first time, he had suffered birth pangs, as it were, until they were born into newness of spiritual life. Now he was suffering birth pangs a second time until they could be released from the bondage of Jewish legalism (Gal. 4:19).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
This is a powerful promise: Christ is being formed in us (v. 19). This is also clearly stated in 2 Corinthians 3:18: ""And we...are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.""