Sabbath, July 7, begins in all Sabbath-schools the study of the book of Galatians. The following article, contributed by Brother L. A. Reed, will be so helpful to all, as preliminary, that we lay over for this week the regular "Study in Galatians: the Two Covenants," to give place to this article.
(Compiler's note: I believe that what Brother Reed had to say will also be helpful to us as We continue on with A. T. Jones in his studies in Galatians, so I have chose to include it here)
A great deal of interest just now centers in the book of Galatians. It is to be the subject of study for six months now in our Sabbath-schools everywhere.
We know that the epistles of Paul were addressed respectively to certain companies or individuals at given times in the early history of the Christian church. They were written to correct certain errors that had sprung up at that time. And as is always true, these errors took on certain forms due to the education and customs of the times.
Thus the disciples of Christ in Galatia were told by some that it was not enough to receive the gospel, which is the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," or the "power of God unto salvation," but that they must also perform certain ceremonies. There had been a time when these ceremonies were intended for performance; but that day was now past. But the fact that these rites were no longer in force did not effect the principle which Paul outlines. Even in the days when these ceremonies were in force, the mere performance of them could not, and was not intended to, make the doers thereof righteous. And what Paul attempts to show is that at no time could righteousness so come. And if these rites, when in force, would not make the doers thereof righteous, how much more shall they not when abrogated?
These ceremonies we all now acknowledge are of no binding force. There is therefore no danger now that any man will declare obedience to them necessary. And if men are now liable to make a mistake similar to that of the Galatians, it is manifest that this latter-day mistake must take on a form different from that made back there. In other words, the law of circumcision, animal sacrifices, etc., is now a dead letter, and ceremonialism of that form is no longer threatening any man's welfare. And if God, in the message to the Galatians, is referring only to the ceremonial law, and ceremonialism of the particular form, then--I say it without qualification--all that message of God has become dead, and is of no value only as a record of the mistakes of those of old.
But ceremonialism of that particular form is not the only ceremonialism mentioned in Galatians. There is a ceremonialism which any man in any age of this world may drop into. And as God's word is directed to every man and any man, in every age and any age, that ceremonialism is the mistake which now you and I are warned against. And as the things which concern you and me are of more importance to you and me than that which more truly concerns others in some other age, it follows that this other ceremonialism which we may drop into in these days is of greater interest to us, and should be the burden of our thought and study, rather than that which almost wholly concerned others in another age of the world now long gone by.
But what is ceremonialism?--It is to think that a man is justified by the works of the law; and not to know "that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." Gal. 2:16,21; 3:5-14, 18-27. Almost every verse in the third chapter is but a declaration, variously made, of this one principle,--not by the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ.
There was a law called the ceremonial law; it was the law of circumcision, sacrifices, etc. It was given for a good and sufficient purpose; but it was never given with any idea that by observance of it righteousness could be won. And he who lost sight of its true import, and attempted to use it as a means of earning righteousness, dropped into mere ceremonialism. into performing a dry round of ceremony. He began to love a Christ-less life; he fell from grace, fell under the curse.
There is another law--called the law of ten commandments. It was not given from Sinai with the idea that by observance of its precepts any man could win righteousness. He who thus lost sight of its true import, and attempted to use it as a means of earning righteousness, also dropped into mere ceremonialism. He began thereby the performance of a dry round of ceremony, of outward forms. His life at once became Christless, because he chose a way of salvation other than Christ. But Christ is "the Way;" and there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Such a man falls from grace, falls under the curse.
There was yet a manifestation of the law, other than the form given in the commandments; namely, the law of love. But he who takes even that manifestation of the law, that outward expression of the law,--love to God and love to man,--and attempts by his own efforts to live it out; that is, to earn righteousness by its works,--that man, like the others, drops into ceremonialism; possibly of another form, but nevertheless ceremonialism. He loses the true import of the law of love, falls from grace, and lives a Christless life.
There was still another manifestation of the law, a clearer presentation of its claims, in the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." But the man who reads of the working of that law in Christ, and then by a copying of those acts of Christ attempts to earn righteousness, to make himself like Christ,--the man does not know the true import of the Christ life. He, too, has dropped into ceremonialism, dry routine, dead works, yea, Christlessness.
Furthermore, ceremonialism in any of its forms must have to do with the "ten-commandment law of God." This is true of that form of ceremonialism which takes its root in a misapprehension of the ceremonial law. He who so misread God's purpose relative to the ceremonial law, must misread his purpose relative to the moral law. The constitution of the mind itself would produce this. And the fact that the ceremonial law of sacrifices and offerings was but a form of the gospel for the time then present, and therefore was a preaching of the moral law, would also bring it about. And the ceremonialism of the Jews not only in the things of the law of sacrifices, but in the things of the moral law, testifies that the two forms of ceremonialism go hand in hand. He who made the one mistake made the other.
When God indited the book of Galatians, he did not strike at a few particular forms of error, but at the great principle which was at the bottom of that error. The error might take on many forms; a form at one time giving way to another form at a later time. A word directed merely at one form, must go out of date when that particular form vanished; but a word directed at the principle underlying the various forms, and aimed to destroy the principle that gave rise to them,--that word, I repeat, must forever be needed, so long as human hearts and minds are liable to misapply the principle, and thus create these various forms.
What, then is now the message of the book of Galatians?-- It is, as we have said, to show that righteousness is a gift of God; that it comes by promise; and that it is by faith in Christ; and that it is not by the works of the law; "for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified;" Gal. 2:16.
And what is the ceremonialism which in the book of Galatians you and I are warned against. Is it not that ceremonialism which now is the only ceremonialism possible for us to drop into--that ceremonialism which is an outward conformity, or attempted outward conformity, to the ten commandment law, and especially to the fourth commandment of that law?--Yes, such are the works of the law which you and I are apt to trust to; and so the message of the Galatian epistle now is relative to the ten commandments, and even the fourth of the ten, or any one of the ten, or all of the ten. It can mean nothing else to us now; and whatever more it may have included, only lends force to this other one warning not to trust in attempts to outwardly keep that law.
If you will, in the light of these things, open your Bible with a prayerful heart, and read, not having in your mind those who lived two thousand years ago, but having only your own case in mind, and your own soul in the judgement balance,--I say, if you will so read, having in mind only your mistakes and liabilities to mistakes, and your own responsibility to God, I will trust your conclusions as to what law God's Spirit reads to you out of Gal. 3:19, or any other part of the epistle.