18 - THE MAN WHO BORE THE BRANDSSeptember 3, 1961
Henry F. Kulp
Galatians 4: 11 - 16 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
Paul has just finished talking about the reason for the law. He said the law was given only to Israel to be Israel’s school-master, to bring them to Christ. Then, starting with the 4th chapter, he tells them while they were under the law they were as infants, minor children under tutors and governors, waiting the time when Jesus Christ would come. But the law did not help them to receive Christ, but rather to reject Him. Then he tells us that we are not as children under the law, but are sons of God—we have already received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry “Abba Father “—and then he turns and he says, how, after having this glorious experience with God—that is, as a son of God, ye have turned back to weak and beggarly elements and observe days, months, times and years.
1/ Then, Paul becomes very personal. And he says in verse 16 Am I now your enemy? Certainly when I came to you the first time, I brought joy unto your hearts, and you rejoiced over me, but now I am your enemy because I tell you the truth.
These legalizing Judaizers from James had naturally torn Paul down, and said he wasn’t a true apostle, he did not have the true Gospel, so Paul says you are concerned in your feelings for me. I want to remind how you received me the first time.
2/ Verse 14 Notice the last part of this verse. He said when I came to you with the Gospel, you received me as an angel of God, even as Jesus Christ Himself.
Angel of course, means messenger, and he says, you received me as a messenger of God, even as you would have received Jesus Christ, Himself.
3/ Now, there is a story behind the headlines here that is necessary to see. When Paul came to them he did not come as many people come today. He wasn’t a glamour boy—he wasn’t dressed in the best clothing of the day. He didn’t come with enticing words. He didn’t come with pomp and ceremony, marvelous costumes, and candles and images. No, he came as an ugly little man, and they received him. It is necessary to see what Paul looked like to recognize what he talks about in this portion of Scripture
4/ Many historians writing about Paul said he was an ugly little Jew. Notice what Paul says in Galatians 6: 17 From henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It actually should be, I bear, branded on my body, the marks of the Lord Jesus, and it is quite clear from the context he is referring to actual marks that he bore in his body, and he speaks of these marks in a figurative, or symbolic way. He says they are not merely marks, but they are brands. Yes, Paul had been battered and bruised in ways that could not help but leave his body in a horrible misshapen condition. Could anyone, for instance, have undergone that stoning at Lystra when he was dragged out of the city as dead, without bearing life-long after-affects?
Acts 14: 19, 20 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
You know, stoning is a horrible way to die. Those stones would crash upon his body, and they would open large sores and wounds and he would be bloody and battered, He couldn’t help but be scarred from the stoning there in Lystra, and probably he had long running sores over his body.
5/ You know he had five Jewish whippings. I don’t know whether they would leave any abiding marks, but the three flogging by the Roman soldiers would mark his body for life. Then, he had suffered by the brutality of mobs, he had been assaulted by robbers and such-like. His body was a beaten mess, and so was his face.
Notice in II Corinthians 11: 23 - 28 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
He says here—of the Jews, five times I received 40 strokes save one. Thrice I was beaten by rods—that was by the Romans. Once I was stoned. He suffered ship wreck. He knew what it was to suffer physically for the Lord Jesus Christ, and when he came to Galatia, his body was marred and beaten.
6/ To see how bad Paul looked, and yet they accepted him can be found in the word, rejected, verse 14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
It literally means, spit me out. That means he was unattractive. It was so bad, that this vulgar thought is used here. He was misshapen he was literally beaten out of shape. But that Paul had a serious eye-condition. He had a disease of the eyes.
Verse 13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. That is the Greek word for physical sickness.
John 11: 3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
When it says, he whom thou lovest is sick, it is the same Greek word.
7/ Then he says, I know you would have plucked out your eyes and literally given your eyes if you possibly could have.
8/ Now, the question is natural in our mind, why did the Galatians feel this way towards Paul? They didn’t feel this way because they loved him for his physical appearance. Why were they literally willing to pluck their eyes out and give them to him? Because they loved the message that he preached—the grace gospel—they had not been contacted by the legalists and they loved this glorious gospel that saved them and made them sons of God.
9/ At this point in our study it is necessary for us to see that the teaching of legalism never brings love—it brings intolerance. It never preaches love to anyone—it always separates and it makes men judge others rather than themselves. What Paul brought to them brought love, what the legalizing teachers brought to Galatia, brought division.
10/ Then another thing which is actually a side-light here Paul shows the futility of these divine healers. You will notice when Paul received this thorn in the flesh, which was a physical sickness. He didn’t go to someone else to heal him, he went to the Lord.
II Corinthians 12: 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
Three times he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord didn’t heal him. It shows this idea of divine healing in the atonement for today is absolutely erroneous.
11/ Galatians 4: 15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
Paul says, where then, is the blessedness, ye speak of? What happened to the joy and enthusiasm they showed when they counted themselves blessed to hear him, and to embrace him? Legalism had robbed them of the blessings of grace. The church of Galatia was like the church of Ephesus to whom John wrote, Thou hath left thy first love. They had a first love, and it was gone. So, you see, the matter of losing first-love is true in every age and here was a church which lost it through legalism. When a man despises the doctrine of pure grace, he throws away the blessings that only grace can give.
12/ Then to show you just how bad Paul’s eyes were, Galatians 6: 11, He said, Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand. In other words, large letters being necessary because of faulty vision.
13/ Galatians 4: 17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
Then he says, they zealously affect you, but not well. The words, they and them, refer to the false Judaizing teachers.
Here we get the thought of having a zeal but not knowledge. These Judaizing teachers were zealous, but they didn’t have knowledge, and these people in Galatia were all stirred up too—they had a lot of zeal, but certainly not for God’s program. The words, not well, are literally, in no good way.
14/ Then in verse 17 we read, they zealously affect you, but not well—yea, they would exclude you that you might affect them. In other words, the motive of the Judaizing teachers were selfish, they were never interested in the well-fare of the Galatians converts. They had only selfish interests in driving them away from grace into law. They wanted to be exalted. It is always well to recognize with the Gospel when it is preached, that it should glorify Jesus Christ, and not a person, not a group. What is the motive behind a man’s preaching, behind his presentation of God’s Word? Is it to exalt himself, or to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ?
15/ Galatians 4: 19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
The appeal becomes much stronger, and the expression of affection deeper as Paul says, my little children—here the appeal becomes more tender. It is a warm-hearted appeal of a teacher, towards those who are listening to him. There should be a tender relationship between those who have been won to the Lord, with the one who has led them to the Lord.
16/ Galatians 4: 21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
He says, tell me, ye that desire to be under the law—do you hear the law? Then he tells the story of Abraham and Sarah and Haggai and Ishmael and Isaac. Let me tell you this story in my words, for I believe many folks do not really understand what happened in the family of Abraham—for notice, in verse 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. We have to go back to a key verse in all of history.
Genesis 11: 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Here it says that Sarah was barren, she had no child. Out of that fact came great tragedy—the results of that are in the headlines of our Twentieth Century, when we see Arab and Jew warring with one another. These two are half-brothers in origin.
17/ To begin with, Abraham’s name was Abram, and it meant father of many. But he had no sons. And it made it worse, that his name was Abram, which meant father of many.
18/ We can picture the humorous incidents that took place in Palestine. We can imagine the caravans coming through Palestine and stopping at Abram’s colony of tents, and his servants brought water for the camels and food for the travelers, and the merchants would visit Abram, and with their usual Oriental politeness, would ask about his family. They would say, your name is Abram, father of many, how nice? How many children do you have? And Abram would say, None, and that would be greeted with roars of laughter. It was humorous. Imagine the effect it had on Abram and Sarai.
19/ And it was not made easier, because Abram and his colony of folks lived in a world of tents. You can imagine, that the women, they were different from women today, they loved to gossip, and they knew everything that was going on. And you can picture there was a couple of thousand of people who were dependent upon Abram, that is why it was a colony.
Genesis 14: 14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
We read, Abram was able to get 318 trained servants to go and deliver Lot when he was kidnapped, and then you imagine he must have had a couple of hundred other men able to watch after the flock while these soldiers went away to fight—while the army was away, and of course, they must have had wives, so there must have been at least 500 men, and 500 wives, that would be a thousand, and there would be a thousand more children, or maybe more than that. So you can see that Abram had quite a city there. A large colony of tents, but Abram had no child of his own, and you can picture the people talking about Abram and his name, the father of many, and the folks would probably laugh and make jokes and poke fun at Abram and Sarah—then finally, as he was getting old, and Sara was getting old. They became desperate—so Sarah offered her slave girl, Hagar to Abram to have a child, and they would have it as an adopted child. They certainly had to have a son. And in this colony of tents, it wasn’t long before the women all knew that Abram had Hagar, and it wasn’t long—a few weeks before they knew that Hagar was with child. And then the son was born—and you can imagine what happened among the women living in those tents there—they knew the trouble was with Sarah—not with Abram—Abram was potent, Sarah was sterile, and it said that Hagar despised Sarah, and Sarah was terribly jealous of her slave, and so Hagar fled from before Sarah, but God appeared to her and sent her back until the son was born.
Then ten years later years later God told Abram that he was now to change his name from Abram to Abraham, and He told him that He would not accept this son, Ishmael, but he was to have a son who was to be miraculously born.
20/ So you can imagine, when God changed the name Abram to Abraham, which instead of meaning just father of many meant father of a multitude. But now, here is an important point in our study. At this point we must recognize that Abraham no longer could have a child. Ten years before he had a child with Hagar, but now this Scripture says he was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90, and he was past having a child. He could not have one at this point, and God said, within a year you are going to have a son, and you can imagine gales of laughter in the different tents, and when the people would gather to have fellowship, to visit one another they would laugh and laugh that his name was Abram and now God changed his name to Abraham. Now he’s the father, not of many, but of a multitude. They made fun of this. Within a year, Abraham and Sarah had the son, Isaac. Now God says, in this portion of Scripture through Paul is an allegory, it is an illustration of law and grace. Not law and grace, actually—but it is law or grace. You cannot mix the two.
Romans 11: 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
If it is grace, it is not works, if it is works, it is not grace.
21/ So to start with, Paul contrasts Hagar, the Egyptian slave-woman with Sarah, the wife of promise, and likens Hagar to the law, and Sarah to the grace of God. Then Paul contrasts the two sons, Ishmael, son of Hagar born after the flesh by the will of man, and Isaac, supernaturally born by promise, and he says, these two women and these two sons have a spiritual application.
22/ Hagar and Ishmael, born after the will of the flesh reveal Abraham’s terrible failure and weakness in trying to help God in fulfilling the promise of God to have a son. Abraham had given up his hope, and Sarah suggested he do something to help God with His program. So Abraham sought to help God keep his promise. This act of Abram, says Paul, is an illustration for man’s attempt to please God with the works of the law. Hagar corresponds to the law. Ishmael is a representation of the works of the flesh. Remember, she is a bond-woman, she is a slave. But God says, I reject the whole thing—remember that—God says, I don’t want anything to do with Ishmael, he is not the son of promise.
23/ But the son, Isaac, a picture of the grace of God was born in a supernatural way. It was completely the work of God. Abraham and Sarah could not have children, they were well past their time of having children, so God, you will notice, has to reject any work that man does. The only work that God can accept is the work which He does. So it is necessary to recognize this truth—it must be by grace if we are to be acceptable to God.
24/ Ephesians 1: 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Where he says, we have been accepted in the beloved—that means we have been graced in the beloved one, the Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN
Ref: 09/03/1961 / 18 - THE MAN WHO BORE THE BRANDS / 12/08/2020
Very interesting!
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