{"id":64,"date":"2008-01-22T18:11:42","date_gmt":"2008-01-23T00:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/index.php\/2008\/01\/22\/galatians-53-unpayable-debt\/"},"modified":"2008-01-22T18:11:42","modified_gmt":"2008-01-23T00:11:42","slug":"galatians-53-unpayable-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/galatians-53-unpayable-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Galatians 5:3 – Unpayable Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ministry<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Galatians 5:3<\/o:p><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.<\/o:p><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No matter how obedient we are to laws, church ordinances, and regulations, we can never repay the debt that we owe to God for our sins.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTestify<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek word marturomai<\/span><\/em>, which in its noun form (martus<\/span><\/em>) refers to someone who has been called to give a testimony in a court of law. Hence, marturomai<\/span><\/em> means to give a testimony regarding what is known by the witness. Throughout the centuries Christians have testified regarding their faith in Christ even to the point of death. These who have given their lives rather than denouncing their faith have come to be known as martyrs from the word martus<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n

We looked at the word \u201ccircumcised<\/span>\u201d in the last verse. The word used in this verse is from the same root, but this word is a present tense participle in the passive voice. This indicates someone who is currently having himself circumcised.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cdebtor<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek ophleilet\u0113s<\/span><\/em>, which is from the word opheil\u014d<\/span><\/em> meaning \u201ca debtor, someone who owes a debt to another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo<\/span> keep<\/span>\u201d is translated from \u201cpoi\u0113sai,<\/span><\/em>\u201d which means \u201cto make, perform, or do.\u201d The thought here is that the person who becomes circumcised is now bound to perform all the requirements of the law.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul starts off this verse with the statement, \u201cI testify again<\/span>.\u201d Some believe that Paul taught this principle to the Galatian Christians when he first delivered the gospel to them. It seems to make more sense, however, that he is simply reiterating what he said in the previous verse.<\/p>\n

The central issue that Paul has been dealing with throughout this letter is whether or not a person has to become a Jew, through submission and obedience to the law, in order to be a complete Christian. Circumcision is to a Jew as baptism is to a Christian. It is the final testimony or action that serves as a public declaration of faith. In the case of the Jews, it is faith in righteousness through complete obedience to the law, whereas in Christianity it is faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Paul is telling the Galatian Christians that if they think that circumcision is the completion of faith then they are sorely mistaken. Since circumcision is the declaration that righteousness comes through law, anyone becoming circumcised is declaring that they are trusting in the law and that means the whole law. If they fail to keep a single point of the law, they are guilty of breaking the entire law. They now owe all their righteousness to a set of rules that they can\u2019t obey. What futility!<\/p>\n

Application <\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

No matter how sincere we might be, to base our righteousness on anything other than faith and faith alone puts us in debt. As a debtor we are enslaved to the one or the thing to which we owe allegiance. It is our sin debt that must be paid, and that can only be paid with the blood of the sinless Lamb of God, our Savior Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2008 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Galatians 5:3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Truth to Learn No matter how obedient we are to laws, church ordinances, and regulations, we can never repay the debt that we owe to God for our sins. Behind the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-5"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-12","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}