Galatians 6:12 Commentary and Bible Study

In summing up Paul points out the real motivation of the Judaizers. We are where possible to look for the best motives, but where the facts clearly show otherwise we should not be deliberately blind, for light shines on all things – on the good and the evil – and makes all visible. The Galatians should understand the bad motives of these false teachers, so that they do not mistake them for friends, but remain wary of them. If we trust those who intend to do us harm, we lower our guard and they will certainly take advantage to injure us. Every town which resides in a hostile area needs to have a protective wall around it, and the inhabitants must set up a watch. Much as we would all like to be free from strife, we are born into a war zone and we cannot say, ‘I won’t recognise the battle and then I will be free from it’; we have to take sides. In this war the battle is between God and Satan and all the living are caught up in it. It is key that we learn quickly who we can trust and who we cannot trust, but the Galatians had allowed their defences to be penetrated and the enemy to come well within their borders. Paul is in effect urging them to rebuild the broken walls and cast the enemy out where they belong. ‘A fair show in the flesh’, that is, an appearance which will be appreciated by fleshy men and which is itself a demonstration of fleshy qualities rather than spiritual ones. It is not hard to get even God-hating men to subscribe to a religion which leaves out grace and which flatters the flesh. Fallen man would rather have a religion in which he places all sorts of strictures and abstinence on his flesh, than one in which he gives his heart to God. Fleshy men are easily fooled into thinking that such religion has merit, for they are too ready to give credit to the flesh and to ignore the deeper movements of their hearts which they hope lie beyond all scrutiny. Since they do not know God, they think that all they have to contend with is the probing of other men, and this they feel sure they can shield themselves from. This religion of Cain, which is not accepted by God, is one which stirs the strongest feeling in men. Cain murdered his brother because he was touched at the most sensitive spot of all: his acceptability with God. He knew that if God rejected him, he was truly nothing, and yet he had invested all he had in obtaining this acceptance. The true gospel is so offensive to the unregenerate just because it counts all that men have done in their own strength as powerless to please God. True humility, which is willing to discard all our own righteousness as filthy rags, can only come as a result of the Spirit’s work in the heart. The Spirit alone is able to cause the sinner to willingly die along with all his good works, and to embrace Christ alone as his righteousness. This was something which the Judaizers who plagued the Galatians were unable to do.So for the Judaizers the issue was that they would not follow Christ as he requires. They wished to avoid the persecution of the cross, for that seemed to them a matter of shame, for it crucifies the flesh and there is no merit left for the flesh. There is no honour awarded to human achievement, no boasting in human accomplishment. They were well aware of what they would shame they would face if they turned to Christ – the same which they now heaped on the Galatian believers. The cross gives praise to Christ alone.