Commentary on Galatians (5)
Speaking like this is sure to attract criticism, even from those who call themselves believers. How could Paul speak in such absolute, inflexible, and threatening terms? But he writes in verse 10, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
It is possible that the Judaizers have been describing Paul as one who accommodates his message to please his listeners. He would preach circumcision to the Jews, but exempt the Gentiles from this requirement. This might be why he later writes, "Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished" (Galatians 5:11).
But verse 10 makes good sense in our passage even if it is not a response to the Judaizers' misrepresentation. Paul has just pronounced the curse of damnation against those who preach anything different from what he first preached to the Galatians, a message whose content we will soon learn more about, since he would proceed to reinforce it in the rest of the letter. And as we noted, by implication the curse also applies to those who believe anything different than what he preached. In issuing this curse, Paul has denounced the spiritual standing of every person who disagrees with him on the issue at hand. It is easy to imagine how this might offend.
What enables Paul to speak with such authority and boldness, and – since the situation warrants it – with sharp words, curses, and threats, is the mentality that he is a servant of Christ and not a pleaser of men. The two are mutually exclusive: "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." A pleaser of men is not a servant of Christ, and it follows that a servant of Christ cannot be a pleaser of men at the same time. Those who serve Christ do not please men; those who please men do not serve Christ.
Of course, regenerate men are pleased to hear the truth, but the emphasis here is on the apostle's motive. He carries out Christ's orders regardless of what men might think about him or do to him. He does not compromise the content of his message to entice his listeners, and he does not soften his approach to appease them. This mentality is the key to faithful ministry and spiritual boldness. His acute awareness that he is a servant of Christ makes God the central reference point for all his thoughts and motives. His only concern is to speak and perform that which pleases and honors God.
It is true that we are, in a sense, the servants of men, but they are not our masters. There is no paradox or contradiction here. Christ is our master, and the only reason we serve other people is because he commands us to do so. In a humanistic or man-centered worldview, it is often believed that there is an inherent obligation or value in helping our fellow human beings. This tendency affects many Christians, but since it does not come from and cannot be harmonized with the God-centered ethic of Scripture, the resulting worldview is incoherent and non-Christian.
On the other hand, in a God-centered ethic, God is the only true master, and all of our beliefs, values, and actions proceed with his revelation as the reference point. Thus we serve men not because they are our masters, but because God is our master, and he has told us to serve men. It also follows that we will only serve men only in the manner and to the extent prescribed by God's revelation.
In a God-centered worldview, we would as soon kill them as be killed for them – it all depends on what God commands. Any Christian who is shocked or unnerved by this statement does not truly regard God as his master, and he is mystified and offended by someone who does.7 In his heart he has placed above God a non-biblical standard by which he approves or disapproves of who God is, what he does, and what he commands.8 He is like someone who regards a religion as false because it commands acts of violence. This reverses the proper order of reasoning. If a religion is true, then the violence that it commands is God's revelation. It stands as a moral imperative, and it would be immoral to disapprove of it or to disobey it. Thus, that a religion commands violence does not make it false; rather, that a religion is false makes the violence that it commands without authority.
Likewise, we serve men not because of who they are or because there is an inherent moral obligation, but we do it because of who God is, what he has revealed to us about himself and about men, and what he has commanded us to do. Therefore, in principle we serve Christ alone. We serve men only because this is what he has commanded. Thus we are their servants not in an absolute sense, but only relative to the divine commands. We do good to them under Christ's directions, and as his servants.
This also means that it is not up to men to dictate to us the terms of our service. We serve them only in the manner and to the extent that Scripture commands us. A Christian who truly believes this is thus free from the fear of men. By "men" here, of course, we include believers as well, for a Christian is often called to serve other Christians, and his greatest enemies and persecutors will frequently consist of those who profess the faith. But if we are the servants of Christ, then we will be unafraid of criticisms, attacks, and pressures that come from mere men. Our only focus is on doing that which Christ has commanded us.
This passage informs us of Paul's attitude as he writes the letter to the Galatians, but it provides a basis for much more. Because Scripture also teaches all Christians to be servants of Christ, and to fear God and not men, we must personalize what we derive from the passage about Paul's thinking and behavior. Anyone who is able to do this – and to the extent that he is consistent in it – has been liberated from the fear of men to enter a life of faithful and efficient Christian ministry. An effective exposition of Galatians should model and impart this to believers.
I am a servant, a slave of Christ. Insofar as I believe this truth, I will have no selfish agendas and aspirations. Since self-preservation and self-promotion are not the motives, fears of failure, danger, and opposition have no place of entry. A servant conducts business for his master, according to his command, in his name, and by his authority. Therefore, he does not measure what is before him against his own resources, but against his master's resources.
Since my master's authority is complete and absolute, then so is my confidence as I carry out the mission that he has given me. I do not need to think that I am better than someone in myself in order to instruct him, correct him, reprimand him, and when appropriate, to pronounce the curse of damnation upon him. And it is precisely because I am a servant of Christ that I am immune to those who question my standing as a servant of Christ. No matter how legitimate a ministry, it will always be challenged by those who call themselves believers, as in the case of Paul. But I live to please Christ, not them. I live for his approval, not theirs.
Because Paul is bold, harsh, and urgent in dealing with the present situation, I have every right and reason to be as bold, harsh, and urgent in a similar set of circumstances. Whether we are confronting the unbelief of non-Christians, or professing Christians who oppose us, I have the authority to speak plainly and bluntly. In fact, when confronting heretics that attempt to pervert the core of the gospel, it is nothing less than spiritual treason to put on an attitude of academic detachment that is characteristic of the non-Christian notion of intellectual respectability.
A minister often faces more than verbal criticisms from his critics. Sometimes there is much political (both civil and ecclesiastical), social, and financial pressure exerted against him. And this will often come in the most vicious and underhanded manner from those who call themselves believers. I am aware of this each time I say something that is disagreeable to the critics.
Sometimes there are complaints from individuals of little significance. Sometimes there are political backlashes from those who seem to have some clout. And often the attacks consist of mob pressure rather than logical argument. I am aware of the possible consequences, so that I make attempts to be wise as a serpent but harmless as a dove, not being foolhardy lest I put God's grace to the test. On the other hand, I am also aware that because my ministry is commissioned by God, it is also indestructible. (And if God wishes to destroy it, why would I want to save it?) Just as the key to an invincible defense of the faith is complete dependence on the wisdom of God, the key to an indestructible ministry is complete dependence on the power of God.
This attitude is most frustrating to those who persecute a ministry, and to those who oppose the work of God, since here is a person that they cannot intimidate or manipulate, or harm and hinder in any way that matters. What can they do to me? They can criticize. If what I teach is false, then they are the least of my problems. But if what I teach is correct, then God himself will vindicate it in the hearts of men, and in whom he has chosen to reveal the truth, working above and beyond my effort to promote and defend it. Thus I can perform the ministry on my terms, and not have them dictated to me by the adversaries, or by the latest and strongest pressure.
What can they do? They can employ sophistical arguments, but they cannot kill God's word. They can wield ecclesiastical powers, but they cannot kill God's work. They could kill me, but if I have learned to take up the cross daily, then in my mind it has already happened – I have already died, the fear and the sting of death have been taken away. Since this ministry has been commissioned by Christ, there is nothing that anyone can do to damage it, whether Christian or non-Christian. I rest in his calling and his providence. And since this ministry is indeed of God, then those who seek to destroy it are not fighting against me, but God. Yet they are mere tools in the hands of God, who works all things for his glory and for my good, so that I may accomplish all that he has commanded me to perform.
NOTES
7 This is more than an illustration, but it has applications in Christian practice. For example, Scripture commands corporal punishment for disobedient children and the death penalty for some criminals. There are those who judge the Christian revelation as false or defective because of these commands, but this reverses the proper order of reasoning, and begs the question. Rather, if the Christian Scripture is a revelation from God, then these commands are good, moral, and necessary. It would be sinful to disapprove of, disagree with, or disobey them. Nevertheless, the principle is not bound to these particular applications. If a person approves of God's command to execute a murderer not because it is God's command, but only because he himself thinks that this is what a murderer deserves, then he is still making himself God's judge. The principle is what is important here – that is, what God commands is good and moral by definition, even if it entails violence, or anything that is opposed by a foreign standard.
8 Similarly, it begs the question for an unbeliever to judge God's revelation by a standard foreign to that revelation. He already assumes that what is judged is not God's revelation, since God's revelation would be the highest standard by which anything could be judged. Thus the revelation and the standard that is foreign to it must be established or refuted in some other manner before one could judge the other.