We have seen Paul’s confidence, his boasting in the cross of Christ. On that basis he tells the Judaizers not to trouble him any more. But he also seeks to encourage the believers, first by blessing those who agree with him (v16) and then by blessing them with the grace of Christ (v18).
In 6:16 we need to consider “the Israel of
God.” Some believe this is a reference
to the Church, being the new “Israel” after the nation of Israel rejected their
Messiah. This is a very unfortunate and
unbiblical position. A closer look
indicates that a distinction must be made.
Paul speaks of “all who walk according to this rule” and then of “the
Israel of God.” They are not the
same.
The “rule” is that which Paul has stated
concerning the cross and the new creation in vs. 14-15. Those who follow this rule are all true
believers. When he goes on to specify, “even
to the Israel of God,” he refers to those true believers who are of Jewish
background. Rom. 2:28-29 speaks to the
same issue in talking about the need for “circumcision of the heart” (a new
creation) for a Jew to be a “true Jew.” Eph.
1:12-13 operates on this distinction, speaking of we who first hoped in
Christ (Jewish believers) and then of those Gentile believers in Ephesus
who also, after hearing the gospel, believed.
Paul is not dividing the Body of Christ into
two different bodies. In Ephesians the
very point is that the two have been made one; but there are two to begin
with. In Galatians 6 his point is that
neither the Church as a whole, or the Jewish believers in particular, should be
troubled about the matter of circumcision but should have peace and mercy on
themselves.
It can be easily shown that, in the NT, there
is not a single reference to “Israel” that applies to anything but national
Israel. The Church is never “Israel.”
For believers, we should consider the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to us. We bump up against the world day after
day. It is a fact that Christ has left us
in the world to serve Him. I want to
conclude with a quote from A. W. Tozer in Of God and Men (p40).
"Another reason that our religion must interfere with our
private lives is that we live in the world, the Bible name for human
society. The regenerated man has been
inwardly separated from society as Israel was separated from Egypt at the
crossing of the Red Sea. The Christian
is a man of heaven temporarily living on earth.
Though in spirit divided from the race of fallen men he must yet in the
flesh live among them. In many things he
is like them, but in others he differs so radically from them that they cannot
but see and resent it. From the days of
Cain and Abel the man of earth has punished the man of heaven for being
different. The long history of
persecution and martyrdom confirms this.
… The heart that learns to die with Christ soon knows the blessed
experience of rising with Him, and all the world’s persecutions cannot still
the high note of holy joy that springs up in the soul that has become the dwelling
place of the Holy Spirit."
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