Jewish Christians are known as Messianic Jews. Their teachers, many of whom have said that Jesus should not be preached to the Jews, have emphasised the Messiah of the Old Testament. They have said that it is quite sufficient to make the Jews aware of the teaching of Messiah from their Bible. On the surface this may seem to be an attractive proposition; after all, if one can remove any impediment, anything which prevents Jews from listening, should it not be done? And the Old Testament does contain the gospel message.
The answer in this case, however, is emphatically no! This is a very dangerous half truth. To use Paul’s description of the teaching of the Judaisers: it is another gospel! The Bible does teach that Jesus is a stumbling block to the Jews; but that does not mean that when preaching to them, we should stop teaching him. Without the Jesus aspect of the Son of God, the gospel is meaningless. The big failing of the Jews was not their lack of belief in the coming of Messiah to be king of Israel, but rather their blindness to their need for salvation from sin and death through Jesus.
There is something very special about the way the apostle Paul teaches us to view Jesus. If we listen carefully to what he has to say, we shall be led a long way toward fulfilling the teaching of Jesus — “He that honoureth the son honoureth the Father.” In this epistle, there are six verses in which the expression “in Christ” is used; two in which “in Jesus Christ” is used and a further one in which the expression is veiled but still pregnant with meaning. We will examine each verse in the order in which it occurs.
Galatians 1:22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judcea which were in Christ:
We are so familiar with this expression that we can easily fail to register its significance. Here were groups of Jews who were “in Christ;” they had forfeited their natural lineage to Abraham to be “in Christ” where it mattered not whether they were Jew or Greek, bond or free. They had ceased to be individuals who were striving to maintain obedience to the Law and were now a part of “the body of Christ.”
This was no mere association of Jews who were calling themselves Christians; it was a number of individuals who had “put on Christ;” they had clothed themselves with him as with a garment. Solomon helps us to understand what is meant: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov. 18:10) . Having “put on Christ” they are shielded from the enemy and share the benefits of his life, death and resurrection. But let Paul tell us more in his own words.
Galatians 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
By birth, Jews were in bondage to the Law which they could not keep, and, more important still, by birth both Jew and Gentile “in fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” There was no escape. Had Jesus not come, all would have died in bondage to sin and death! To be deluded and turned away from Jesus is to be directed back into bondage!
Liberty for the Jew was, in the first place, freedom from the shackles of the Law; but, in the greater sense for both Jew and Gentile, it was freedom from sin and death. Here was freedom from the impossible task of self justification and instead being justified in Jesus by faith. Here was freedom from this body of sin to become a partaker of God’s own nature. How can Jesus be excluded from our preaching or from our great rejoicing? All this is summarised in the next verse in this list.
Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith ofJesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
It is only in an understanding of, and belief in the life and death of Jesus, that one can be justified. There must be a complete abandonment of self and, instead of attempted self-justification, a belief that what we can not do for ourselves Jesus has accomplished for us. In God’s mercy, justification is by grace through faith. God has set in operation a scheme by which man can gratuitously receive salvation – “For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).
Galatians 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
This argument was devastating to Judaism and remains so to its modern counterpart — Jesus was preached to Abraham who rejoiced to see his day and seeing it was made glad! The covenant which was made to Abraham was made “in Christ!” We cannot preach Abraham without preaching Jesus!
The questioning Jews asked Jesus, “Art thou greater than our father Abraham?” Abraham was their father, the one to whom God made special promises. By birth they claimed the right to those promises; but, said Paul, those promises were confirmed “in Christ.” In fact, going back to Genesis, we see the Old Testament equivalent to “in Christ” — it is “in thy seed.” There we learn that all the major promises given to Abraham were to be fulfilled in “his seed,” in Christ. The land was first promised to Jesus, “to thy seed will I give this land.” The kingdom is to come through him, “And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:7; 22:18). It is true that God did give promises to Abraham which affected his natural seed; but the real abiding promises were, as Paul wrote, “to thy seed which is Christ.”
Galatians 3:26-29 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
The above verses will be taken together. Their teaching is crisp and gathers all the essentials. Being “in Christ” means sharing his sonship; we become “children of God.” This privileged relationship is entered by faith in Christ Jesus and by baptism into him. Having put on Christ, all earthly relationships cease to be of importance. It is no longer of consequence whether we be Jew or Gentile, bond or free, or even a man or a woman, we are one in Christ Jesus. This is a real and close relationship, for writes Paul, “We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones… This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:30-32).
This means that we have put off the old man, with all his bondage and in which is the penalty of death, and have put on Christ, in whom there is liberty, freedom from the penalties of sin and promise of a new life. We become Abraham’s seed, not after the flesh, but his seed “which is Christ,” children of promise and therefore heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
The new relationship is not merely a technical one; it is not just a matter of exchanging the Law of Moses for the commandments of Christ. It is an entirely new way of life. We are now a part of the life of Christ. Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
We must be very careful not to explain away the significance of this and many similar verses (II Cor. 4:11; 13:5; Eph. 3:17; Col. 1:27, etc.) in trying to explain just how Christ lives in us. They are meant to teach that in a very real way, the new life is of Christ. It is only possible through him and can only be accomplished in him
Being “in Christ” is very different from anything previously experienced by Jew or Gentile. Its motivation is love — not fear, not slavish adherence to a code of laws or any other thing which motivates man — it is love. Love which starts with God and is manifested in His son and in those who are “in him.” Love is the life’s blood of the “new creature” and, says John, it is proof of rebirth– “Ifwe love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us ” (I John 4:7,12).
Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
In Christ, all falls into correct perspective. Circumcision can avail nothing either for the Jew or the Gentile but neither is it a barrier to those who now believe in Christ. What is of significance is that a “new creature” has been born. Like the previous verse, this also takes the emphasis away from technicalities and places it upon the effect which sound doctrine will have in the believer’s life — he will be a new creature — not as yet fully developed, but in the stage preparatory for that which is to come. When death will be swallowed up of life, when these vile bodies will be changed and when, in His mercy, we are made partakers of the divine nature, the promise will be fully realised.
Without Jesus, none of these things could be possible since he is the means by which God has chosen to redeem a people for His name. Furthermore, the work of Jesus did not stop with his ascension. He is the head of the body, and he walks amidst the candlesticks holding in his hand the angels of his ecclesias. It is in him that believers died to their old way of life as their baptism symbolised; it is in him that they were raised to new life; it is in him that they now live, and when Christ who is their life shall appear, they will appear with him in glory!
What kind of gospel is it which is ashamed to mention the name of Jesus? How can the gospel be preached without doing so? It is true that it is God who is our Saviour, but it is also true that He has chosen to effect salvation through His son. Our salvation can only be accomplished “in Christ.” It is at the name of Jesus that every knee must bow, to the glory of God!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One