From our childhood, most of us fondly remember the story about the little engine that could. We recall our hearts going out to the little boys and girls who lived on the other side of the mountain who did not have any candy or toys. We cheered on the little engine who agreed to help transport the goodies to the children even after several bigger, stronger engines had refused to help. As the little engine slowly chugged up the mountain, we remember his chant well--"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." Sure enough, though some doubted he would make it, the little engine climbed up over the top of the mountain. This cute story was used by our parents to encourage our determination to work hard to complete a job even when the task before us looks like more than we can handle. The encouragement to say, "I think I can" and to give all we can muster to get a job done might prove helpful in the physical world with a physical task, but it not helpful for our lives spiritually. When we try to live lives that please God by gritting our teeth and saying "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" we won’t make it. We cannot please God by our own best efforts, by living our lives in the flesh.

We have learned throughout the book of Galatians that our salvation never has and never will depend on our performance. We have been reminded repeatedly that living by a list of rules of what we should do or should not do is neither what saves us, nor is it what sanctifies us. Just as we were saved by God’s grace through faith alone, so also we are sanctified by grace through faith alone. We do not begin the Christian life on the basis of faith and then try to complete the process by our own best efforts. We are saved by faith and we walk by faith. We trust Christ to live out His life through us by His power. We depend on the Spirit’s power and submit to His control in order that He might produce in us the fruit of a Christ-like life.

Paul wrote to a Galatian church that was heavily influenced by the teaching of Judaizers. The Judaizers taught that when it comes to the lifestyle God requires in order for His people to enjoy fellowship with Him, we must obey the law. The Judaizers taught that gritting our teeth and putting forth our best effort to keep the rules is the way to be more like Christ and please God. They taught that being sanctified was a matter of our performance or our doing well enough in our keeping of the law.

Throughout the book of Galatians, Paul has been taking the teachings of the Judaizers to task. At the end of the book, Paul takes their motives to task. He compares the things that the legalistic Judaizers boast about with his own boast. He points out how the Judaizers gloried in their own achievements; whereas, he gloried in what God accomplished through the cross of Christ. In comparing himself with the Judaizers, Paul was trying to encourage the Galatians to follow his lead and turn away from the direction his critics were taking them down.

Stated another way, follow the lead of those who boast in what God has accomplished through the cross of Christ. Don’t follow the lead of those who boast in human achievement.

As we consider Paul’s comparison of himself to the Judaizers, we should not jump to the wrong conclusion that he was putting them down only because he wasn’t able to measure up to their standards. Remember, Paul was once one of them and was once more zealous than they were. Galatians 1:13-14 reads, "For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers."

Paul knew about legalism from personal experience. He knew firsthand that it didn’t work. He knew that trying to be good enough by keeping the rules leads only to failure and frustration and condemnation. God showed him the error of the legalistic system he was pursuing and revealed Christ to him who forever changed his life. Paul went from being a proponent of legalism to being a minister of God’s grace who directed God’s people to trust in what God has done through the cross of Christ. Paul was not comparing himself to the Judaizers to make himself look better for selfish motives. Rather, he defended his integrity out of concern that the Galatians would believe the truthfulness of His message—a message that emphasized grace, not law; faith, not works; the internal, not the external; walking by the Spirit, not living by our own best efforts.

Paul penned the last paragraph of Galatians with his own hand to show he cared. As was his common practice, Paul had most of the letter to the Galatians penned by an amanuensis or a personal secretary who recorded as he dictated. However, the final paragraph, Paul penned himself. Galatians is not the only letter Paul closed with his own handwriting. In fact, the distinguishing mark of all his letters was that his own handwriting was found at the end of each one. This was done to authenticate a letter was from him and to prevent forgeries. (1 Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:17). However, Galatians is unique in that in this letter, Paul penned much more than he usually did. He did so to express deep concern for his readers.

Also unique to Galatians is the fact that Paul pointed out the large letters he used as he wrote. Paul does not say why he wrote with big letters. Some have suggested that he used large letters because of his poor eyesight. That Paul had eye trouble is suggested by Galatians 4:15 where Paul writes about the willingness of the Galatians at one time to sacrifice their own eyes for him, if doing so would be helpful. Another suggestion for Paul’s use of large letters was that he wanted to put special emphasis on his closing remarks. We do the same thing when we write something in bold and then underline it or when we inject "IMPORTANT: READ THIS" at the end of a letter or e-mail using all capital letters. Either explanation of why Paul might have used large letters shows that he cared very deeply for the Galatians. If he did it because of poor eyesight, it was a labor of love to pen as much as he did. If he did it for emphasis, it was loving to do everything he could do to get the truth he was communicating across to his readers.

Whereas, Paul cared about the well-being of the Galatians, the Judaizers cared only about themselves.

They were people pleasers—they wanted to look good to those around them

The Judaizers tried to compel the Galatians to be circumcised to make a good impression on others. The Judaizers did not try to force the Galatians to be circumcised because they were genuinely concerned that they obey the law. The real reason they wanted the Galatians to be circumcised was to gain popularity. They were concerned most about appearances—about putting on a good face before others. By putting on this false façade, the Judaizers were demonstrating that they were living in the flesh rather than walking in the Spirit. They were doing what impressed men by their own best efforts, but their accomplishments did nothing to impress God.

For a person to disavow the necessity of circumcision meant he would receive ostracism from the Jews. By insisting that the Galatians be circumcised, the Judaizers sought to escape persecution from this group. They sought to avoid the stigma of the cross. They were afraid of what the Jews would do to them if they took a stand and proclaimed that the provision of what Christ did on the cross is the sole means for accomplishing man’s salvation and sanctification.

They were hypocrites—they disobeyed the law, yet they tried to force others to live by it.

They were braggarts—they wanted to make converts so they could boast in what they achieved by their efforts

By forcing Gentile believers to submit to circumcision, the Judaizers could boast in the number of people they had won over as proselytes. The Judaizers boast was at the expense of others. They wanted converts not because they were concerned about other people, but because they wanted more reason to glory in their religious achievements.

The negative example of the Judaizers serves as a good reminder for us as a church as we anticipate the upcoming evangelistic weekend we will have in February with Larry Moyer. So often in evangelism, we can look at people as a project. We can see them as people to won to Christ so that we can put a notch on our belt and boast of our religious accomplishment. We need to be careful to share the gospel with others because we love them and desire for them to experience the grace, mercy, peace, and new creation that is ours because of the cross of Christ through trust in Him.

Unlike the Judaizers, Paul did not personally boast about the external superficial matters the Judaizers bragged about. Paul refused to boast in anything other than or in addition to the cross of Christ—the symbol of Christ’s death and its results. Paul’s total dependence and boast was in sufficiency of what Christ provided for him in laying down His life. At the cross, the penalty for our trespasses was paid in full, and all of the blessings of salvation were made possible. It is in the cross of Christ we are to glory, not in our own achievements.

Paul was crucified with Christ to the world system that encourages us to leave God out of our lives

The cross was significant to Paul because through it, the world was crucified to him and him to the world. The world is the evil system that Satan rules that encourages us to do what we want and leave God out of the picture. Paul was dead to the world. Death is separation. Paul was separated to the world in two ways.

The gospel of John is clear that Christ came as the expression of God’s love for the world. He died so that we could have eternal life through trusting in Him. Christ did not come to condemn the world but to deliver the world from the power and penalty of sin. However, those who refused to believe in or trust in Christ stood condemned for rejecting Him. Paul was separated from the condemnation those who go their own way and refuse to trust in Christ receive. He was separated from condemnation because he chose to respond to the message of the cross by trusting Christ.

Paul was separated from the controlling influence of the world

When Paul was still a Judaizer, he thought it was by what he did in keeping the law that satisfied God’s standard of righteousness. He was very much under the controlling influence of the world, thinking He could do it all himself without depending on God. The world encouraged him to focus on human work and keeping the law. When Paul came to the realization that He could never be good enough and that Christ’s death alone satisfies God’s righteousness, his pride in his achievements and in his respected position among Judaizers because of all he did in keeping with the world’s system were replaced by trust in Christ.

All the Jewish attainments Paul used to consider significant were considered as loss, as waste compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. By Paul’s identification with Christ through faith in Him, Paul was separated from his old way of life that was under the controlling influence of the godless world.

Not only was Paul separated to the world, but as far as the world was concerned, he was separated to it. Paul gave no credit to the world system for his spiritual life. By identifying Himself with Christ and fully trusting Him, Paul expected to find himself at odds with the world system. He expected no praise from the world, but only the same persecution and hatred it had shown to His master.

Paul was made a new creation in Christ

Attempts at gaining God’s merit by works of the law (circumcision) give us no spiritual advantage and neither does the lack of them (uncircumcision)

Circumcision represents the legalistic system of trying to obtain merit in God’s sight by keeping the rules. The Judaizers claimed that circumcised Jewish Christians were superior to uncircumcised Gentile believers because they had kept the law. Circumcision was insisted on by Judaizers. Because Paul had argued so strongly about the obstacle of legalism to our sanctification in the book of Galatians, the uncircumcised Gentile believers might have come to the conclusion that they were better off in Christ than their circumcised Jewish brothers. Paul was clear that there was no spiritual advantage or disadvantage to either the circumcised or uncircumcised. It didn’t matter to God whether a person was or was not circumcised.

What matters to God is a new creation

What counts to God is our being made new creations by the regenerating work of His Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. Our being made new creations comes by faith in the one who died on the cross as our substitute, not through works of the law like circumcision.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17- "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

As new creations, our life in Christ is totally new and completely different. We have new identification. We have been identified with Christ in His death and resurrection into a whole new way of life. We have new desires. The Spirit gives us a new desire to please God that we did not have before. We have a changed life. The Spirit empowers us not to sin, but to be like Christ when we trust Him and submit to His control. What matters to God is the new creation made possible by what Christ did on the cross.

Paul was insistent that trusting God’s provisions to live a holy life was the standard we must follow to experience His peace and mercy

Keep in line with or follow this standard and you will experience God’s peace and mercy: trust what was accomplished through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and walk by faith in the power of His Spirit, rather than in the power of the flesh. Believe in the good news of what God accomplishes when we trust Him. He has made us new creatures in Christ. He gives us the indwelling Spirit to control and empower us to live in a Christ-like way. Follow the standard of grace if you desire to experience God’s peace and mercy. You will never experience these if you persist in living in the flesh, trying to keep all the rules by your own best effort.

Paul specifically mentions that even the Israel of God will experience God’s peace and mercy when they trust God’s provisions for living a holy life. Why does he do this? Homer Kent has suggested a good explanation in his commentary on Galatians. He writes, "Having been dealing primarily with the problem of Gentiles who were being pressured to adopt Judaistic practices, Paul has just pronounced his approval and blessing on those who resist that pressure and walk by the proper rule of Christian conduct. However, he does not wish to exclude any true Christians from his benediction, so he makes additional mention of "the Israel of God," that is, Jews who were not merely racial descendants of Abraham but were also sharers of his faith" (Kent, The Freedom of God’s Son, page 183).

"Finally, let no one cause me trouble." Paul had argued his case well and desired the dispute with his critics to end. The Judaizers had bothered him long enough. There was no legitimate reason for anyone to doubt Paul’s authority, integrity, or the truth of his message. There was no legitimate cause for anyone to be hesitant in following Paul’s spiritual leadership and rejecting the leadership of the Judaizers. The marks of Jesus that Paul bore on his body convincingly settled the matter of whose leadership the Galatians should follow. Paul from being whipped, beaten, and stoned bore the marks of Jesus. Paul identified with Jesus even to the point of sharing in his affliction. The Judaizers, on the other hand, had no marks on their body to show for their convictions.

Paul ends his letter praying that the grace of the Lord would be a precious reality in the spiritual consciousness of the Galatians. Paul refers to the Galatians as brethren. Though Paul at times had to employ some severe language to get his point across ("foolish Galatians"—3:1), he sought to be gracious in his stand for grace. Paul regarded the Galatians as true brothers and sisters in Christ and fully expected them to deal properly with the false doctrine in their midst.

What are the implications of this passage for our lives today?

If asked to give an evaluation of how we are doing spiritually, will we start rattling off a list of our accomplishments or will we glory in the cross of Christ? Will we glory in the flesh, in what our efforts produce or will we glory in the Spirit, in what He produces in us when we submit to His control? Will we talk about our list of rules or about God’s grace? What are we trusting in? Are we trusting in human achievement or divine accomplishment? In order to please God, we come to God by faith in Christ, and continue living every day a life based on faith, not on works of the law. From beginning to end, our relationship with God is based on the work Christ did on the cross. Will we stop trying to make it on our own and trust Christ? What will be our boast? Will we brag about our accomplishments? Or Will we brag about what God has accomplished in our lives through the redemptive work of Christ and the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit.

Whose lead will we follow? There is no shortage of leaders who would have us to follow the way of human achievement. Be careful to be discerning in your choice of whose lead you will follow spiritually. Be careful to follow those who boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.