Galatians 2
September 19, 2013
From the moment of Adam's sin onward, manking has been plagued with guilt. We are born separated from God the Father and that sinful nature makes us feel guilty and what we try to do is allieviate that feeling of guilt. We have approached that endeavor from trying hard to feel good about ourselves, whether it be by psychology, positive thinking and lots of "good works." Sometimes the guilt gets too much for us so we try to escape it through alcohol, drugs and self-gratification. Still it persists.
Adam's sons give us an understanding of what we do and what we should do in regards to this guilt.
God had instructed Adam to go through a sacrificial ritual (a foreshadowing of Jesus' work on the cross) where the shedding of the animal's blood was a connection of what was to come in Jesus' work on the cross. Adam was instructed to obey the instructions of the sacrifice as well as to do so with a broken and contrite heart. The sacrifice was not what forgave the sin, it was God who forgave.
When Cain offered his sacrifice of grain to the Lord, he sinned both by disobediently bringing the wrong kind of offering and by offering it in the wrong spirit. Rather than bringing an animal sacrifice as God had commanded, he brought the fruit of his own labor, proudly supposing that this offering of disobedience was just as acceptable to God as the one He had prescribed. His was the first act of works-righteousness, the forerunner of every such act since his time. Every person of every era who has tried to come to God on the basis of his own merits and works, or by some humanly designed religious prescriptions, has followed in the unbelieving, grace—rejecting steps of Cain. By rejecting God's prescribed animal sacrifice, Cain rejected God's provision of substitutionary salvation in His Son toward which that blood offering pointed.
Abel, on the other hand, by obediently offering the blood sacrifice God required, in faith leaped across the centuries and touched the cross. God accepted his offering not because it had any spiritual benefit in itself but because it was presented in faith and obedience.
Since the time of Cain and Abel the two divergent lines of works and faith have characterized man's religious life. It is the very thing that Paul is dealing with in Galatians and the very thing we still deal with today in the church. The "work" of the sacrifice does not free us from sin, it is Christ who frees us and we must walk in faith that when Christ frees us we are truly free.
Adam's sons give us an understanding of what we do and what we should do in regards to this guilt.
God had instructed Adam to go through a sacrificial ritual (a foreshadowing of Jesus' work on the cross) where the shedding of the animal's blood was a connection of what was to come in Jesus' work on the cross. Adam was instructed to obey the instructions of the sacrifice as well as to do so with a broken and contrite heart. The sacrifice was not what forgave the sin, it was God who forgave.
When Cain offered his sacrifice of grain to the Lord, he sinned both by disobediently bringing the wrong kind of offering and by offering it in the wrong spirit. Rather than bringing an animal sacrifice as God had commanded, he brought the fruit of his own labor, proudly supposing that this offering of disobedience was just as acceptable to God as the one He had prescribed. His was the first act of works-righteousness, the forerunner of every such act since his time. Every person of every era who has tried to come to God on the basis of his own merits and works, or by some humanly designed religious prescriptions, has followed in the unbelieving, grace—rejecting steps of Cain. By rejecting God's prescribed animal sacrifice, Cain rejected God's provision of substitutionary salvation in His Son toward which that blood offering pointed.
Abel, on the other hand, by obediently offering the blood sacrifice God required, in faith leaped across the centuries and touched the cross. God accepted his offering not because it had any spiritual benefit in itself but because it was presented in faith and obedience.
Since the time of Cain and Abel the two divergent lines of works and faith have characterized man's religious life. It is the very thing that Paul is dealing with in Galatians and the very thing we still deal with today in the church. The "work" of the sacrifice does not free us from sin, it is Christ who frees us and we must walk in faith that when Christ frees us we are truly free.