Friday, June 26, 2026

Galatians 5:7-12  

You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? 8 Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. 10 I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. 11 But my brothers and sisters, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!  

This passage is a passionate appeal from the Apostle Paul to the church in Galatia — a plea to stay rooted in the Gospel he had preached to them. Paul names "agitators" in the congregation. These were Judaizers: Jewish Christians who insisted that circumcision was still required for men to be fully included among God's people.  

That last line — you know the one — is pure Paul: emotional, sarcastic, and pointed. It's essentially him saying, "If cutting off flesh matters so much, why not go all the way?" It's a sharp rhetorical challenge designed to expose how absurd the requirement had become.  

For Paul, the cross of Christ is the only requirement that matters. Every penalty, every demand, every condition for our standing before God — all of it was satisfied by Jesus. Finished. Done.  

We may not have Judaizers in our pews pushing circumcision today, but we absolutely have people — sometimes well-meaning pastors and teachers — constructing new hoops for people to jump through in order to feel truly accepted by God. I've heard fellow pastors from other traditions express genuine uncertainty about the salvation of their own church members because those members don't serve enough, give enough, or show up enough. Every time I hear that, I find myself asking: what exactly was the cross for? If our standing before God ultimately comes down to our performance, then the cross didn't accomplish much.  

Friends, hear this clearly: there is nothing you can do — or fail to do — that will make God love you any less.  

That's not a license for passivity. It's actually the most liberating starting point imaginable. When we're no longer scrambling to earn what's already been given, we're free to spend our lives exploring the depths of that freedom. That freedom will likely lead to service, generosity, and worship. But it may also lead to sabbath, solitude, and silence. The Holy Spirit gets to decide — not the checklist.  

– Pr. Jason

Jesus, thank you for the cross where the penalty for my sin was fully dealt with so that I can spend my life following your way. Amen.