In this issue:
Comments on Galatians Chapter 3
Europe 2009
Howard Williams
July 27, 2009 marked the beginning of our 2009 Europe trip. We left Mandeville at 4:45 a.m. and had a smooth ride to the airport in Kingston where we arrived at 6:30 a.m. and checked in for the first leg of our trip to Germany. The first leg took us to New York where we arrived at about 11.00 a.m., to be greeted by a long wait in the customs line. We had a very long layover in New York of about eight and a half hours, so the wait in customs did not matter too much. David got some sleep while we waited for our next flight, but I walked around, came back, got a little sleep and walked around again. The time passed like that for a while, but then we found an electrical outlet and we were able to get some power, so we pulled out our laptops and I started working on this diary.
Germany
The next leg was by Lufthansa and it lasted 8 hours, finally ending in Frankfurt Germany. We left New York at 9:35 p.m. on the 27th of July and arrived in Germany at 11:35 a.m. on the 28th of July. I really didn’t mind leaving in the night, because I sleep most of the way during night flights and it seems to help my body adjust easier to the change of being in a time zone six hours ahead of home.
In Frankfurt our passage through customs was smooth, swift and uneventful. I couldn’t help wishing that the process could be similar when I visit the USA! We picked up our checked luggage and were outside in no time. We started looking around for our host, Erwin but did not see anyone. After a while I decided to walk along the corridor and look for his car. I soon saw it parked along the sidewalk (I was familiar with it from last year) but saw no sign of Erwin. We walked around a bit, and eventually found him back at the terminal from which we had originally exited. Apparently we missed each other somewhere along the way and we all made the big mistake of moving off to look for each other.
We quickly loaded up our stuff and headed for Erwin’s home. The journey was about three hours and during that time we chatted about the camp meeting, end-time events and the fulfilling prophetic signs. We finally got to Erwin’s home. It was a different location from where we had been last year, for Erwin had recently moved. We were greeted by Brother Vlad and his wife Andi and their little son Edi, along with Sister Kerstin and her son Felix. By the time we got there Sister Kerstin had prepared us a lovely meal and it was just waiting for us to partake. After dinner we sat around and talked about many things including the progress of the message of righteousness by faith.
That night we slept for about 10 hours. We woke up much refreshed and had a king sized breakfast to begin the day. The camp meeting was scheduled to start at 3.00 in the afternoon. Vlad went off with his family ahead of us, because he planned to drive slowly.
We actually left later than planned and then got sidetracked a couple of times. Erwin’s GPS had old maps installed which needed upgrading, so the two hour trip turned out to be over three hours, but finally we got to the campsite where a few people had already arrived.
Our room was very cozy and comfortable, very much different from the one in which we had stayed last year. After getting something to eat we had a short introductory meeting, then retired for the night. I enjoyed my first night but David could not sleep. For some unknown reason, he tossed and turned for more than half of the night and did not fall asleep until close to 2.00 a.m.
The program consisted of four sermons each day, one morning session, two mid-morning and one afternoon. The night service was to be dedicated to questions and answers. Vlad, David and I were the speakers with Erwin being, as usual, the translator.
It was great to see the brethren again. Some had, as usual, travelled very far to get to the campmeeting and in addition to the usual attendees there were people who were coming for the first time. We soon got reacquainted with every one and before long, it was like a family reunion.
Of course, there continued to be many questions about the message of Christ and his righteousness. Some people who had attended last year, were not present this year. We were told that they were unhappy about the fact that we were teaching that Jesus’ was born with a pure holy mind, while we are born with a carnal mind. Others needed clarification as to the rightful place of the law in the experience of the believer. We did our best to clarify these issues and as far as we could tell, by the end of the campmeeting we were all in agreement on these things.
Of course we did not have unanimous agreement on everything with everyone. A couple of brothers had a talk with us one afternoon. Their burden was that Daniel 8 was not referring to the attack of Rome on Christ’s heavenly ministry. When we asked what was it referring to, they were not certain, but they felt that it could not refer to Rome, or to Christ’s ministry. They seemed to believe that the “Prince” referred to in the passage had to do with some secular ruler. It was difficult to have a satisfactory discussion because everything had to be done through an interpreter. Sometimes in these cases the interpreter gets so involved that he forgets to translate and takes up the discussion himself! We did not agree at the end, but we had the discussion in a brotherly way and parted in good spirits.
One of the highlights of this camp meeting was a communion service which took place during the final day of the camp. This proved to be a real blessing to many of the brethren there since many of them do not enjoy regular church fellowship and they do not have the opportunity to partake of this solemn service very often.
They final meeting in Germany was a question and answer period in which all the last burning questions were dealt with. Soon the final words had been spoken and the regrets at parting expressed. We closed off with sad goodbyes and the hope that God would grant us the privilege of meeting again soon.
Our driver for this trip was brother Vlad Ardeias from Romania who was our appointed driver this year for the Eastern legs of our journey. We had decided to start out on this trip by night, as Vlad wanted to avoid the heat and discomfort which accompanied driving during the day. So we planned to leave after the final meeting. We eventually hit the road at about 10:30 pm and were off on a journey that we hoped would last about 12 hours. Our next stop would be Hungary.
David and I tried to stay up as long as we could with Vlad who was driving a little Mitsubishi Spacestar car more like a station wagon, but jam packed with our luggage.
I think I may have stayed up until about mid-night and after that I woke up from time to time for a few seconds. Shortly before morning, Vlad stopped for an hour of rest. I was a bit startled to see him pull out his sleeping bag, lay it out on the dew-covered grass beside the car, crawl into it and fall fast asleep in a few minutes. When he arose an hour later he seemed much refreshed.
Journeys like these are very tiresome especially for us as Jamaicans since we rarely ever drive for more than two or three hours at a time back in Jamaica. After what seemed like endless hours on the road we finally got to our destination at about 2 pm on Wednesday afternoon, having traveled for a total of about 15 hours.
Hungary
Janos Santa and his new bride Ildiko were waiting for us. It was a pleasant surprise for us to discover that they were expecting a baby and would become parents in about three months time! Janos took us to his mother’s home where we enjoyed a big meal which she had prepared for us. After the meal we set about changing some tires on Vlad’s car. Vlad had bought these tires in Germany, and we had taken them with us to Hungary, since Janos’ father has a tire repair business. Changing these tires in Germany could have cost us anywhere from 40 to 100 Euros! To our surprise after Janos’ father changed the tires and tried to get them balanced, he told us that the tires were not good and that they were retread tires.
Vlad decided against using them and we had to buy another set of tires. Janos’ father was able to find us another set but of course, it seemed that money had been wasted on the tyres bought in Germany. Vlad told me that he immediately remembered that he had not prayed before buying those in Germany. He had seen them on the internet and thought they were very cheap and so bought them, but if he would learn the lesson never to do anything before praying, then the amount he lost was worth it. Then he told me of a saying that he remembered, “I am too poor to buy cheap things.”
We eventually got the second set of tires on the car and finally left for the camp meeting which was abut 60 Km from Janos’ home. The camp site was in the mountains and after an hour of traveling up some winding roads, we arrived at our destination. This was a kind of guest house, but several of the rooms consisted of cabins. We had a cabin with five beds, which was to be sleeping quarters for, Vlad, David, me, and two other brothers from Romania. The actual meetings were held at an auditorium about 1 kilometer away from the cabins.
The speakers at this Hungarian camp meeting were David, Vlad and me, with Janos being the translator. The camp was planned for five days from Thursday to Monday of the following week. Each day had three speaking sessions, in the morning from 9 am to 10:30am, and 11am to 12:30pm, then the last one in the afternoon from 5-7 pm with a question and answer period at the end. Breakfast was before the first meeting at 7:30am, lunch would be between 1-2pm and supper would be 7:30pm.
There were about 30 people when we started but as we got closer to the weekend the number grew and on the Sabbath we had more than 50 people in attendance.
As the culture in various countries differ so do their meals and it is always a challenge to adjust to the diet (I will always remember the challenge of eating Banku and Fufu in Ghana!), but we are always able to find some food to which we can adapt. After lunch there was a long break during which we could interact with one another. Short hiking trips were planned for some days by brother Szandor Barati, a forest ranger who worships with the group.
The time in Hungary was a real blessing as we met new people from different areas who came to fellowship and to hear the word of God preached. Our focus was Christ and his Righteousness, with a special emphasis on how we can receive what Christ has already accomplished for us.
One of the highlights of our time in Hungary was getting to meet sister Saci Noyes who is the wife of brother Steve Noyes. They live in Washington State in the USA but Saci is originally from Hungary. She was in Hungary at the time of the campmeeting and travelled some distance with her mother and Sister to attend the meetings. We were meeting her two children Sarah and Jared for the first time and were happy to be able to spend some time with the family, although Steve was not able to be with them.
We not only enjoyed the time in Hungary, but it proved to be a great blessing for us, as well as the others, but it seemed like just as we were really getting to know the people again, our time there came to an end. We felt our parting even more acutely, because Vlad had requested that we leave Hungary a few hours earlier than previously planned so we could get to Romania before it got too late. We planned to stop at Vlad’s home in Romania and since he lives up in the mountains, a hike of one kilometer from the road up a slippery path, he wanted to get there before it got too dark. The Hungarian brethren were not too happy with this suggestion, but they reluctantly agreed to let us leave early and so, on Monday morning we set off for Romania.
After our final meeting which was held in the open air, on the outside of the building because of a power failure, we sang our goodbye song then headed back to the cabin area for the final meal. Afterwards we said our farewells. Hungarians are not the most expressive people, but you would not have known it if you had seen those moments of farewell. There were many expressions of heartfelt love as we embraced and said our sorrowful goodbyes.
As we started backing out of the yard to enter the road all the brethren started walking before the car waving, some were beside the car crying. My heart was deeply touched and tears were not too far away from my eyes. We drove onto the road with the entire congregation behind us waving to us until the we lost sight of each other. One of the images which will live in my mind is that picture of thirty or so people of all sizes, standing in the middle of the road waving until we turned the corner. It was clear that despite the language barriers the brethren had really appreciated us being there, and in our hearts we were satisfied that no matter what difficulties were involved in making the trip, it had been well worth it.
Vlad was our driver this year and he promised that this trip from Hungary to Romania would not be as long as it had been last year, a trip which had taken us over 17 hours. His plan was to cross the border at a different location and then to drive by back roads which were less traffic infested. We started out about 1 o’clock in the afternoon and drove all the way till we got to his home at about 10 pm that night. This trip really did turn out to be much quicker than the one last year, having taken us about 9 hours.
Romania
We parked the car down in a little village at the foot of the hill on which Vlad lives, took the things we would need for the night and hiked up the path to his house. Vlad’s father-in-Law, Feri, who lives with Vlad, had been at the meetings in Hungary and had traveled back with us so he helped us with the things we needed to take.
It was dark going up the hill even though we had flashlights. After walking for a while we saw the lights of the house and heard the dogs barking as they came running to meet us. In a little while we had arrived. We found Vlad’s wife Andi and his son Edi at home with a meal already prepared. After a warm shower and a quick call home to Jamaica, we sat down and enjoyed the meal. There was something in the meal which tasted a bit like roasted chicked or turkey. To our surprise we learned that it was mushroom. Vlad’s father-in-law had collected large amounts of it in the mountains and what we were eating was a part of a huge one which he had brought home before coming to Hungary. It had weighed several pounds! Vlad told us that they stored up mushroom each year for the winter and it would last them right through until spring.
After the meal we went to bed for a much needed rest. Normally on these trips after a few weeks pass, it seems harder to sleep but we were tired this night and we went off as soon as we fell into the beds.
We woke up to a beautiful day in the mountains with the scenery looking a lot like home. I went out to explore Vlad’s green house full of tomatoes. In fact the best tasting tomatoes I have ever eaten are from Romania, they have a sweet taste to them, unlike the ones in Jamaica. I asked about some seeds and got a packet to try when I got home.
After a good Romanian breakfast we headed down to the car with Andi and Edi. Feri would be remaining at home while Andi and Edi would travel with us to Moeciu to the campmeeting. This meant that there was more luggage to be put in a car that was so packed, it did not seem capable of even another biscuit. I used to think that there was no one else in the world who could pack a car like a Jamaican but I had to change my opinion and bow in respect to the Romanians. What I was sure was an impossibility was quickly proven to be a well within the capability of Andi and Vlad.
I had forgotten my wind-breaker and camera at Vlad,s house and had to make the two kilometer hike all the way up the mountain and back down again, so I didn’t see how they worked the miracle, but by the time I got back the car was all packed and ready to go – well, almost. They were having difficulty in closing the trunk! But here, my know-how came in useful and I showed them how to apply the pressure right where the lock was and finally we were ready to go.
Nestled in the cool hills of Romania there are hidden places that are mostly known to tourists and vacation lovers and it was in one of these special places that the camp meeting was held this year. The name of the place is Moeciu and it was stunningly beautiful with steep mountains all around and a clear river running at the side of the road.
We had rented one of the many guest houses in the area, and this one happened to be owned by the SDA church. We wondered at this strange coincidence and speculated whether there might be problems, but Vlad assured us that the Romanian brethren had rented the place before and there had been no difficulties. The meetings were held in the auditorium of this building.
The camp meeting this year spanned the days from Wednesday to Sunday with four sessions per day. Three of these sessions were for preaching, while the fourth, at 7.00 in the evening, was set aside for questions and answers. Meetings in Romania are always well attended and we had almost 100 people at the start and the number increased daily. By the weekend we had over 150 persons attending. It was notable that many of these people who attended were persons whom we were meeting for the first time. It was evident that the good news is spreading and more and more people are embracing it with open arms.
One interesting thing was that most of these new people whom we were meeting for the first time, already knew us! Through the spread of CDs and DVDs of the meetings of previous years our faces and the message has become widely known and we felt like we were among old friends from the moment we were introduced to these new people.
An incident in Hungary illustrates the effect these DVDs are having on people. We were sitting in the meetings waiting to begin when I saw a little girl run towards David, jump in his lap and hug him. I asked David if he knew this little girl and he shook his head. We later found out that this little girl was Sarah Noyes, the daughter of Steve and Saci Noyes. Saci told us that Sarah watches the DVD’s with her parents regularly and so she feels close to David even though they had never met!
Our time in Romania ended with a baptism on Sunday. It is not hard to imagine how cold the water was up there in the mountains, and both David and I declined to face it. Consequently, Vlad baptized the two candidates. Afterwards we went back to the campsite where we had a long discussion with some of the brethren who are concerned about how to go about organizing the work in Romania without going too far in setting up an organization. The meeting was drawn out as these meetings usually are, and we were not able to settle every point. Nevertheless, we made some progress before we finally left in the late afternoon for our next stop.
The plan was for us to fly back to Berlin, Germany from the Bucharest airport in Romania. The Bucharest airport was almost three hours from where we were in Moeciu, so we appreciated it very much when brother Caesar and his wife Salu offered us a place in their home for the night. They lived about twenty minutes from the airport and this allowed us to relax a bit more on the following morning when we had to leave Romania.
The drive to their home took us a few hours and after we arrived we went to see Salu’s family. Here we found that we were well known (for the DVDs had entered this home as well) and we were greeted like old friends. Salu’s mother had prepared us an ample meal and we tried our best to eat heartily, but I am afraid we were so tired that we did not do justice to it. We were happy to finally get to Caesar’s home and to settle down for the night. This dear couple were determined to give us their own bed (!!) but David made such a fuss about it that they finally agreed to keep their bedroom for the night.
David went off to sleep soon, but I found out that Caesar had lots of DVD’s that I had always wanted so I spent the entire night copying DVD’s and I did not get more than an hour or so of sleep.
We left for the airport at 4:30 the following morning and were at the airport in a short time. The airport was very small and crowded even at that hour of the morning, but with the help of Caesar and Salu we managed to get checked in. We had not known them for very long, but even so, it was sad to say good-bye to Caesar and Salu. They stood in the crowd and watched as long as they could as we departed through the gate. I looked back and waved as I was going through the security check. They were still standing there and we did not see when they left..
The flight was two hours long and I was tired from staying up most of the night, but it was difficult for me to sleep. Somehow, every time I started dozing I became aware that I was snoring and I became so conscious of this that my mind refused to relax. At length I discovered that if I leaned forward and rested my head on the back of the seat in front of me I could sleep a little, so I did.
Germany again
When we got to Berlin the airport seemed even much smaller, but it probably was because we disembarked in one corner of the airport. We walked straight out of the disembarking walkway and into immigration and then right beside the desks where the immigration officers were, was the baggage claim section. The immigration officer was delighted to see our Jamaican passport as the night before, Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter had set a new world record for the 100 meter sprint in Berlin. “Last night was a great day for Jamaica,” he commented. We smiled in return but did not mention that we were there on a mission that in the measure of eternity was far more important.
Erwin was waiting for us on the outside. Our flight back to Jamaica was out of Frankfurt, not Berlin, so we had to get from Berlin to Frankfurt for the next leg of the journey. The plan was for us to spend the time in Frankfurt with Brother Uwe and his wife, a couple whom we had grown to know and to love in the time that we had spent with them at the campmeeting. They lived only 20 minutes away from the Frankfurt airport. But the plan was that Erwin would take us first to his home, and then later Uwe would pick us up at Erwin’s home.
Brother Uwe arrived at about 7.00 p.m. With him was Neil another young brother with whom we had also become very good friends at the campmeeting. It was a squeeze getting all our stuff into the car, but we managed it and off we went. The journey took us about four hours and we finally got to Uwe’s home at about 11:30 p.m. His wife Vesna was waiting for us and quickly made us at home in their comfortable home. Here we had computers and the internet and the opportunity to catch up with some email, but that night, we just got to bed as soon as we could. The accumulated stress of the hectic program we had been following was taking a toll on us.
The next day went by very slowly. Uwe went off to work and Vesna had an appointment for a couple of hours so for a while we were left on our own and took the opportunity to catch up on some computer work. At about 10:30 a.m. Brother Michael came by to see us and stayed with us for most of the rest of the day. Mike had been at the campmeeting last year, but was not able to come this year so we were happy for this opportunity of seeing him again and spending some time with him. Michael is an artist by profession, and he is the person who did a portrait of me last year.
Later after sister Vesna came home, we went into the town and did a little bit of sight-seeing. This included a trip to Michael’s studio where we were able to get a better glimpse of the artistic ability of this brother. He works with charcoal, pencil and oil paints and his sketches and paintings were realistic and lifelike.
After we returned home, some others started arriving for a little Bible study and discussion which had been planned for that evening. We had a very stimulating discussion which focused mostly on the issue of Jesus Christ, who he really was, and His divine/human nature. Of course it all centered around the most beautiful theme of Righteousness by Faith and how God has given us everything we need in Christ freely. We concluded that indeed God had led us first into an understanding of the Godhead message in order that we could be led to the true understanding of righteousness by faith. The study lasted for well over five hours.
One interesting highlight of the evening was the presence of Neil’s sister Jessica. Neil had told us about his sister who had suffered greatly from leukemia and had come close to death. She had agreed to come to the meeting and we were meeting her for the first time. We expected to see somebody pale, thin and feeble looking, but the vibrant, healthy looking young lady who came surprised us. She was very cheerful and seemed happy with the things which we were studying.
Jessica had been in the hospital, preparing for an operation to remove a tumor from her brain less than a week before. It was a very delicate operation but it had to be done because the doctors believed that this growth in her brain was what was causing the leukemia. Jessica’s friends from many places all around the world were praying for her. The doctors shaved the spot on her head where they would make the entrance to her skull and anaesthetized her. It was then that the chief specialist discovered that there was no trace of this tumor which they were about to remove! He had no explanation for what had happened.
When Jessica awakened from sleep she put her hands to her head and wondered why the doctors had not bandaged her head after the operation. The doctor was very embarrassed and did not know how to explain what had happened. He was a pains to explain that he had not misdiagnosed the case for he had made quite certain of the problem before making arrangements for the operation, but he could not explain what had happened. It was a great encouragement to all of us to see right there before us in this happy, healthy-looking girl the evidence that God still answers prayers.
We left early for the airport the next morning. We were going home and we certainly didn’t want to risk being late for any part of this trip! We got there in good time and had enough time to stop to have breakfast with Uwe and Vesna. Sister Vesna plied us with a few final questions on righteousness by faith. This sister made every effort to try to grasp what we were teaching and the previous evening she had been in the forefront of the questioning. She explained that she needed to understand these things in order to experience the truth, but also, whenever people asked her questions she wanted to be able to answer them correctly and adequately.
It was remarkable how close we felt to this dear couple after having spent just two nights and a day in their home – well, actually, we had started growing close to them from the time of the campmeeting, but somehow, there seemed to be a much closer bond after we stayed with them for the final leg of our journey. When we said good-bye, there was a lump in my throat, but, we were going home and that fact made it easier to bear this final heartache.
Soon we were in the air and Germany was just a diminishing maze of green fields sprinkled with red-roofed buildings and patches of forest. In a moment, this too was gone, and we were on our way home.
More Than Coincidence
Contributed by Lenworth Frankson
A few weeks ago I received an email from a friend who shared with me some interesting things on the foods we eat. The comparisons made were amazingly interesting and intriguing. I would like to share this eye-opening information with you in this article. I cannot say for sure that everything stated below is a hundred percent correct but overall it appears to be true.
It is recorded in the book of Genesis that God divided the waters from the waters, made dry land, created a garden, and made animals, fishes and plants all before creating humans. The record shows that he made and provided what we needed before we were created. The foods he provided are best and more powerful when eaten raw but it seems that we are such slow learners. Interestingly, it seems that he left us a great clue as to the specific foods that can enhance the health of different part of our amazing body. Here are a few for us to consider.
A sliced carrot looks like a cross section of the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye. Science now shows carrots greatly enhance the blood flow to the eyes as well as the function of the eyes.
Some tomatoes have four chambers and are red. The human heart also has four chambers and is red. Research clearly shows that tomatoes are loaded with lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant pigment found in tomatoes, grapefruit and watermelon that gives these foods their reddish color. Studies show that including lycopene-rich foods in your diet may help to reduce the risk of prostate and breast cancer, macular degeneration and cardiovascular disease. Studies also show that lycopene may also help prevent osteoporosis.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes; they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don’t have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avocadoes, eggplant and pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female – they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. Isn’t this similarity amazing? There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition (chemicals breaking down into smaller parts by using light) in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm, the number of sperm, as well as overcoming male sterility. Figs are noticed for their sweetness and soft texture – they consist of a pliable skin enclosing a sweet, even softer, fleshly interior filled with edible seeds. A cross-section of this fruit will show a significant resemblance of the mail reproductive cells.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives not only look like but they assist the health and function of the ovaries.
Oranges, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
It is wonderful knowing that God loves us so much that he thought of everything and provided for all our needs before we were born. He has made choosing the right food for our health so easy that by simply looking at the inside and outside shapes and similarities of certain foods and comparing them with various organs in our bodies we can have a good idea of the foods that provide specific life giving nutrients for any organ or body part. Let us thank our Creator that we no longer have to be ignorant in these matters. The truth is that we no longer can make excuses. Benjamin Franklin once said, “ One should eat to live, not live to eat .”
Comments on Galatians Chapter 3
The book of Galatians is one of the letters of the apostle Paul in which he explains clearly and uncompromisingly his understanding of the gospel. At the beginning he explains very clearly that this understanding is not his own, but something which he was taught by Christ Himself (Gal. 1:11,12). Here, we have attempted to clarify what Paul was teaching in chapter 3 of Galatians. We have not been able to quote the actual verses due to lack of space but we encourage you to follow along with your Bible as you read this article.
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Galatians 3:2,3:- The gift and the works of the spirit are by faith and faith alone. There is no need of and no place for works. If it is by faith, then it must be exclusively of grace, for by faith alone, man himself can do nothing. Faith implies total trust in God – not self. And if it is exclusively of grace, then it is evident that it must be exclusively of God.
Faith and faith alone appropriates all God’s blessings. The tendency is, when the blessings fail to come, to measure works and to seek to do works in order to obtain God’s favour. But always, the need and the only need is to seek and obtain true faith.
Galatians 3:5:- A man would raise the dead or heal the sick. How did he do it? Was it that he went out and did good first, fasted, gave alms, obeyed more diligently first? No! It was strictly by the “hearing of faith.” God granted these gifts and responded to his prayers on the basis of, the hearing of faith.
Notice, it was the hearing of faith, not the exercise of faith. God’s favour was wholly and entirely on the basis of an awareness, an acceptance of what He is, can do and has done. When a man believes God, nothing else is required. All God’s blessings become available to such a person in Christ.
So our failing is not a failure to “exercise” faith, it is a failure to “hear” and believe. If it is all of faith and all of grace, then what have I to do? Absolutely nothing except to hear and believe. In those two words is encompassed the whole of my duty. (John 6:29 – compare Eccl. 12:13)
Unbelief has to do with the mind’s focus. The maintaining of faith requires the compelling of the mind to focus upon Christ. This focus may be helped by physical activity, but primarily, the focus of the mind upon Christ means the deliberate, persistent and painstaking habitual withdrawal from activities and people in order to spend time in communion with Christ and in studying His word. Communion is the chief contributor to faith. The human heart will insist, “I need to get things done!” But true knowledge and faith will choose the better part. (Luke 10:42).
If the works of God are God’s works then He does them all, and if they are all done only by grace, in response to faith, then where is there any place for man’s works, for man’s input? It is a thousand times more profitable to spend a few moments seeking faith than to spend all day involved in “good” works on the strength of self.
Man’s whole work is faith . When man believes, God works and God is able to work speedily and mightily. Therefore man has one problem and one problem alone. It is the problem of how to believe. It is that he must find a way to obtain faith. This is his battle, this is his fight. It makes no sense for he, himself to do any “good” works for these are of no value (unless they are for the purpose of helping faith) and in fact these works may do untold harm (as with the Jews – Rom. 9:31,32) Because his activity may deceive the man into thinking he is righteous, and therefore in need of nothing, and secondly it will rob him of the time and the energy which should be focused on seeking Christ.
Gal. 3:6:- If faith is accounted as righteousness, then a man who has faith needs absolutely nothing more. If righteousness is all God requires in order to grant all blessings, then the man with faith is entitled to these blessings, because faith is what God accounts as righteousness.
God blesses faith, but what faith does He bless? It is faith in the seed because all the promises of God are dependent on, and already fulfilled in the seed. (2 Cor. 1:20)
Gal. 3:10:- “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” What does this mean? Those who are in this condition are under a curse. Does it mean to actually carry out the actions specified by law? Are the actions themselves what constitutes being “of the law?” No, because even Paul carried out the ritual of the law when he circumcised Timothy. The action itself was not wrong and did not place one under a curse.
To be “of the law,” speaks to the intention with which one observes the law. In context, these works were being done to obtain God’s favour. They were an attempt at pleasing God through doing certain actions. So to be “of the law,” means to be one who seeks to obtain God’s favour, to obtain acceptance with God by means of the observance of the law. Such people are under a curse.
To set out to obtain favour by works, one’s works must be perfect because God, being perfect, can only approve of perfect righteousness. To fall short of this mark is to obtain a curse. What is this curse? It is the greatest curse of all, the curse of being cut off from God. This will follow because attempted salvation by works leads to self-righteousness, the most abhorrent condition to God. A man in open sin is better off because he at least is aware of his lost condition and has a reason for seeking God. Not so with the one who seeks by works.
No wonder Laodicea is in such a condition! Laodicea is under a curse! And this curse has come upon her because of an obsession with the works of the law – a failure to understand and, to find the proper relationship of the Christian to faith and works.
In actual fact the Christian has no relationship to works. Works have no “proper place” in the Christian’s experience. His relationship is to faith only. This is his whole concern and all his efforts, all his actions, his “works” are only carried out insofar as they may contribute to the strengthening of faith. Faith is his focus, his aim, his horizon. When works follow, that is not his business, that is entirely the business of the only one who can work, that is, Christ.
Gal. 3:11:- A man is not justified by works because “the just shall live by faith.” The law is not of faith. How is this so? Because the very terms of the law insist on something other than faith: The law states, “the man that doeth these things shall live in them.” So we see “faith” and “doing” are set against each other. They are opposites, they are two different ways which are antagonistic to each other.
Gal. 3:13:- Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law (separation from God) being made a curse for us (being separated from God).
Gal. 3:14:- The promise of the spirit is received through faith!! This must be understood as we pray for and seek the latter rain.
Gal. 3:15:- Even with men’s covenants, nothing can be taken away or added to it after it has been confirmed. How much more the covenant confirmed by God in Christ (verse 17). Therefore the law could neither cancel nor add to the covenant because it came after the covenant. The law was not an addition to the covenant. Nothing could be added after it was confirmed. Therefore it could only have been a stop-gap of limited, temporary purpose and duration.
Gal. 3:16-21:- The inheritance is by promise – that is, it is the pledge of God to give it. This promise has no conditions or limitations except one: It belongs only to the seed of Abraham. God’s promise as to what He would do was on the basis of Abraham’s faith, something already accomplished. Therefore the promise is sure in Abraham’s seed. There is nothing I can do which can affect that promise – all my good deeds or all my sins are irrelevant. The promise is in Christ, not in me. No matter what I do, it stands, unchangeable, irrevocable, the heritage of all who are in Christ by faith, it has nothing whatsoever to do with man’s relationship to the law. In fact, those who seek the inheritance by law seek it illegally because it is already promised to another person. These who would obtain it on the basis of what they do are seeking what belongs to another.
The law (as a system of government, as a controlling agent) was “added,” till the see should come. Its ministry was of limited duration, intended only to school people, never to save – a stop-gap measure, relevant until the seed arrived who had the answer to all man’s problems. When He came, the ministry of the law became obsolete. The law’s purpose was to restrain (not cure) transgressions and to educate men concerning sin.
The whole question was, how shall we receive the inheritance? There was the way of the law and the way of the seed. The way of the law was works; you worked in keeping the law in order to obtain the inheritance. The way of the seed was the promise – faith. You believed the promise and so you obtained it.
Verse 18:- Promise and law are antagonistic to each other. It is either one or the other. Law requires works. Promise requires faith.
Now the promise is strictly to Abraham’s seed (v.16), (not seeds, but seed). It was made to one person only. This is Paul’s whole point in emphasizing the number – “seed” rather than “seeds”. So the promise is made to Christ and to Christ alone. So the inheritance – the blessing (which includes the holy spirit (verse 14) Is only promised to Christ and the law cannot adjust or cancel or add to that promise in order for us to obtain the promise in any other way.
Gal. 3:23:- Before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up onto faith. This could not have been universally true of all, or else none could have been saved. But Israel , as a nation were put under the law – were “kept” under the law, were preserved from self-destruction while they awaited the coming of the seed. The law was added “because of transgressions.” Its purpose was to restrain the increase of sin while at the same time producing a greater awareness of sin.
However, the system of the law, always relates to man’s works and man’s efforts. It is entirely focused on man’s behaviour and therefore it is antagonistic to faith. Both systems cannot co-exist harmoniously (Isaac and Ishmael). When one comes then the other has to go (Gal. 5:4; Gal. 3;24,25). The Law is not of faith (Gal. 3:12)
Therefore it follows logically that in order for faith to be established, then the system of law has to go (Rom. 7:6; 6:14; Gal. 5:18).
Gal. 3:24:- The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. This was its purpose, this is why God gave it, why He put it in place. So the goal, the aim of the law is not to produce righteousness, but to bring people to Christ. This is its whole purpose as far as man’s relationship to it is concerned. But when we have come to Christ, what need do we have then of the schoolmaster? It has served its purpose and has become obsolete as far as the goal of righteousness is concerned. So after faith has come we are no longer under the schoolmaster (verse 25).
But notice, it is not the schoolmaster who is abolished, it is our relationship to him which has come to an end. In Christ we have found what he was seeking to achieve so he has become irrelevant to us ( Rom. 10:4; 1 Tim. 1:9). What need do we have of someone to command us to be righteous when we have already obtained the very essence of righteousness, in Christ?
But the law itself cannot be abolished because while it cannot produce righteousness, it does truly describe or define righteousness and this description is eternally true. Neither can the law become irrelevant or obsolete as long as a sinner exists because where there is a sinner the duty of the law remains as a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ and as a measuring stick by which his relationship to Christ may be assessed.
So the law and its work is not limited to a certain time period or era. It is necessary as long as sin exists. The experiences of law and grace, while in a general sense applicable to the history of God’s dealings with mankind, may more accurately be seen as relating to the experience of the individual so that both the “old” and the “new” covenants have in a sense always existed side by side as long as the world has existed.
Gal. 3:27:- Those baptized into Christ have put on Christ. They are baptized into Christ, into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). So they have become a part of Christ. Therefore the blessings which belongs to Christ alone by promise becomes theirs, because they have become a part of Christ. This is the only way to obtain the blessing, the promise of the spirit, by being incorporated into Christ by faith, where these blessings already exist. (Col. 2:9,10)
Gal. 3:29:- If you are Christ’s, if you are a part of Christ, baptized into Him, then you are Abraham’s seed. (Not seeds but seed). Remember that the one seed is Christ (verse 16). And you are a heir according to the promise. But the promise was made to one only, how can you be involved? Because you have become a part of that One. You are an heir of the promise in Him, as Him. You are the seed of Abraham – you are the one seed to whom the promises were made. If not, then you have nothing to receive for the promises are for the seed only. By faith you become Christ (a part of Christ). Everything which is in Him and which is His, is yours (1 Cor. 3:21-23).
On the basis of works you are entitled to nothing. No wonder all our efforts availed nought and ended only in frustration!! We never could receive the latter rain or any of God’s blessings in this way. We never felt worthy, fit, entitled. We were always unworthy and not yet ready for the blessing! We tried to do the impossible – to become fit, worthy by doing, but in all our doing we never felt ready so how could we have faith that we would receive? Even if we had believed on the basis of our works we would have received nothing.
But since all the blessings are already in Christ by the promise, the one single requirement in order to receive them is to be in Christ. This alone and nothing else is all God requires. When we are in Christ we need ask for nothing. What need to ask for what is already yours? The holy spirit is the life of Christ, the gifts of the spirit are the natural existence of Christ. When we are in Him, these things are ours by right as a natural effect of the life in which we exist. All we need is Christ and we receive Him only by faith.
Open Face is published bi-monthly and is sent free to all who desire to receive it.
David Clayton: Editor and Publisher
P. O. Box 23 Knockpatrick
Manchester, Jamaica W.I.
Phone: (876) 603-0821 Or (304) 932-4543
email: david@restorationministry.com
