Down-to-Earth Spirituality: Walk in Newness of Life (Gal.6:12-16)                                          2008.08.17    Pastor Richard Yu  

At the closing of this letter, what confronts the former readers and us today is Paul’s unyielding opposition to the legalism of the Judaizers – those who were adding human efforts in the works of the Law to the Gospel of grace. He is adamantly against any form of the gospel that undermines the believer’s full surrender to Christ and that diminishes his dependent walk in the Spirit. 

Once more he criticizes the Judaizers among the Galatian believers, pointing out their error in their legalistic approach to Christian life, rather than allowing the Spirit take control of their lives. Paul points out his sharp contrast to these Judaizers, not only is he not afraid of their persecution because of his firm belief in the sufficiency of the cross of Christ, he goes on to say that he boasts in that cross. But why? After all, the cross was a symbol of shame, death, and defeat. Jesus was nailed to that cross and was greeted with mockery and ridicule, and died in the end.

But in a mighty display of power, God raised Jesus, His Son, from the dead. One by one those who became his followers saw Him and believed. From that point forward countless others believed, and were transformed by the power of the cross.  Evidence of the transforming power of the cross is seen chiefly in the changed lives of people who have met the Christ of the cross, and by His grace have submitted in repentance and faith. And out of the reality of repentance and faith flows the love of Christ in forgiveness, compassion for others and the assurance of life eternal. The cross and the resurrection lie at the center of our life as Christians.

In conclusion, Paul summarizes what really counts for the believer. No religious rituals are important. Circumcism. Uncircumcism. Dietary requirements. Special religious days. Ceremonial regulations. These are nothing. The only thing that counts is a new creation; that one is a new person in Christ Jesus. When it is all said and done, the Apostle Paul wants one thing only: that we are to be a new people of God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10). Christianity is the message of the new creation, the newness of life, which has emerged with the appearance of Jesus Christ. 

The cross of Jesus Christ brought about a decisive change of cosmic scope. It signaled the coming of a new creation, in which the old boundaries had been torn down by it. At the same time, this new creation demands a new way of living, a “walk in newness of life.” As God’s new people, we are to move about, and conduct ourselves, in the newness of life. (cf. Rom. 6:1-4).

What is this Newness? Paul answers first by telling us what it is not. It is neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision. For the readers of his letter this means that neither being a Jew nor being a pagan is ultimately important; the only thing that is important is the union with Him in whom the new life is present. But what does circumcision or uncircumcision mean for us? It means that neither Christianity as a religion, nor as some sort of ethical idealism, is important, or counts for anything; what really counts is that in the midst of the old creation there is a new creation, manifested in Jesus who is called the Christ; and a new state of being united with Him.

When you read the New Testament in large chunks consecutively and frequently (instead of one or two chapters a day), you cannot help but realize that through all the varieties of emphasis there runs the one dominant theme of life: rich, full, abundant, and free life that flows from the grace of Christ Jesus.

To be a Christian, participating in the new creation, is to worship the living God, “who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist” (Rom. 4:17); it is to be united with Christ Jesus who died and resurrected, so that His life might be manifested in the lives of His followers; it is to receive the life-giving Spirit (John 6:63; 7:39; Rom. 8:11; 2 Cor. 3:6), and be enabled to walk a new path of life (Ro. 6:4; Gal. 5:25); and it is a new mode of being alive in the present, in light of an imminent glorious future mode of being when Christ comes for the second time to bring about the consummation of human history as we know it.