UNDERTSANDING GALATIANS – AN OVERVIEW OF PAUL’S MESSAGE
Galatians
Blessed be Yahweh our Elohim, who has given us abundant life in Yahshua the Messiah, amen! Shabbat Shalom to you all and welcome. I am going to share with you tonight some great insight into understanding a book or letter that has, in many ways, often been misunderstood and has, in essence, left us at times confused. It is the letter to the Galatians by Paul. In light of what we as a fellowship have been going through over the past few weeks and months – having spoken about Torah and Grace, living the Married life and reviewing the Marriage vows etc – it is very fitting to bring you great insight into Galatians, helping us understand what Shaul (Paul) is really saying. Galatians is a letter that is often very quickly turned to in order to seemingly defend the right ‘not to walk in the Torah or Law of Elohim’. My message tonight is called, “Understanding Galatians – an overview of Shaul’s/Paul’s message.” Let us pray…
Shaul/Paul, at times, wrote in a way that was often hard to understand; Peter spoke of this in:
2 Peter 3:15-16 “Bear in mind that YHWH’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that Elohim gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
The heart of what I want to address tonight is the issue of ‘law’. What is Paul teaching – did he keep it or didn’t he – did he teach it or didn’t he? Did his teachings go against what Yahshua taught or was he teaching what Yahshua taught?
Yahshua said in Matthew 5:18 that until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law or Torah until all has been accomplished! That is very straight forward – the new heaven and earth is not here yet, so nothing has disappeared! But on the outset, as many have so erroneously taught today, it appears that Paul is contradicting the very words of Yahshua by saying it is all gone and is old – we do not need to follow it. But is that really what Paul was saying, you must ask yourself, or was he simply a brilliant Torah teacher?
One thing we must realise is that we must never give up studying the Scriptures, seeking the correct interpretation of any given passage. In Paul’s writings there are terms such as ‘under the law, observance of the law, or ‘the works of the law’ etc and I want to shed some much needed light on these. Paul, in fact, warned that in the last days a spiritual delusion will come over the saints of Yahweh and many will fall away from Scripture and turn to a ‘Lawless’ or rather ‘Torahless’ gospel message referred to as the ‘mystery of iniquity’. Let us read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12…
“Concerning the coming of our Master Yahshua Messiah and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of YHWH has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called Elohim or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in Elohim’s temple, proclaiming himself to be Elohim. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed whom Yahweh Yahshua will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason Elohim sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
John tells us that if you love YHWH you will obey His commands – if you truly love Him you will not refuse to love the TRUTH and OBEY His TRUTH – (Yahshua is the very Word made flesh – The Torah (instructions of Elohim) became flesh)
Lawlessness or sin is the Greek word ‘anomia’ and simply put it means ‘without law’ or more specifically ‘without Torah’. Go and Google ‘Greek word ‘anomia’ and do some research! The word ‘iniquity’ or ‘sin’ is the Greek word ‘anomia’ and comes from the Greek word ‘anomos’ = ‘a’ comes from the negative participle in the Greek which means ‘without’ and ‘nomos’ means Law (Torah). Therefore the workers of iniquity are practicing ‘anomia’, which describes those who are without Law or Torah. Simply put, we cannot live without instruction or the Torah, else we are ‘lawless’!
Before we look at Galatians I would first like us to understand what Paul’s view of the Torah was by looking at some of his writings:
Romans 7:12 “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”
Romans 7:14 “We know that the law is spiritual…”
Romans 7:22 “For in my inner being I delight in Elohim’s Law”
Romans 3:31 “Do we, then, nullify the Law by this faith? Not at all! Rather we uphold the Law.”
1Timothy 1:8 “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.”
In acts he states on two occasions that he did nothing against the law or Torah.
From these and many other passages we are able to see clearly that Paul was for Torah and he taught Torah. So with that understanding how should one understand what seems to be contradictory teaching in Galatians? In order to understand any letter, one needs to clearly understand who the writer is writing to, what are the issues being addressed and what were the circumstances at that time! On the surface, this letter could seem to be an argument against Yahweh’s Torah obedience. The question in this letter in actual fact is NOT Torah obedience, but whether Torah obedience was a condition for a restored spiritual standing in Messiah or whether it was rather a natural outflow of that standing! In other words, does obeying torah earn you salvation, or is Torah obedience a natural outflow and response to salvation?
The first point on trying to earn your salvation, Paul argues, is just another example of human religion trying to earn points with Yahweh, just as the pagans do to their ‘gods’. Paul teaches clearly in his letters that the Torah is a source of blessing, growth and maturity. So Elohim’s Torah observance was not in dispute, but what was in dispute was the gaining of identity itself. In the Roman Empire at the time, only ‘Jews’ (those from the tribe of Judah) were exempted from the mandatory worship of civic deities (if you were not ‘Jewish’ you were forced to bow down to pagan worship of their deities – Emperor worship etc.)– So the non Jewish believers (Gentiles) may have wanted or were seeking greater recognition as members of the ‘fearers of Yahweh’ – they wanted to be known as followers of the Way. Paul had taught them that they had already received this status through faith in Yahshua, while others in the broader ‘Jewish’ community who were actually responsible for shepherding these new converts were in effect ‘lording it’ over these new Gentile converts and in effect saying to them, “You guys have taken too high a seat at the banquet table too soon, step back down until you have required proper status!” And so they were told that through circumcision they could be sure that they would not be barred any longer form the privileges and exemptions that the Jews enjoyed. Just picture the scene – some Gentiles get saved, Paul teaches them they are saved by grace through faith in Yahshua – they have stepped out of the bondage of their pagan practices and into freedom in Messiah and the guys who should have been training them in righteousness were putting man’s yoke on their necks and Paul saw this as undermining his message he had brought for he knew that if the restoration of Israel to the Covenant could be obtained by any other means than by faith then Yahshua’s sacrifice was a waste. Paul wrote this letter in around 50 AD and the major debate in these early years, as seen in Acts 15, was whether all of the Gentiles needed to live out their obedience exactly as the ‘Jews’ (Tribe of Judah) did. Now too understand how the Jews were living at the time, will help us understand what Paul was writing about in terms of the law or law.
The central theme of Galatians is justification by grace through faith! Paul uses chapters 1&2 to defend the good news, 3&4 to define the good news and 5&6 he shows followers how to display the good news. False teachers had come in and brought a different message and Paul wanted to expose their impure motives, trying to enforce circumcision as a means for salvation.
Paul told them not to frustrate the grace of Elohim for righteousness comes through faith and not through observance of the law. The Torah is not followed for salvation through performance – follow Torah for sanctification yes, but salvation – no!
Ok but that still doesn’t settle the understanding of this letter does it – because when I read it I think that in am no longer ‘under law’ – and yes you are right you are not under law. Now, is the Christian idea of being ‘under law’ (which is a legalism or a works based system to earn favour with Yahweh) a Jewish concept? Did the Jews of old view Torah obedience as a means to gain Yahweh’s favour, and hence earn their salvation and place in the world to come? Does Jewish tradition teach this? Does the Tenakh (OT) teach this? So were the ancient Israelites ‘under law’ or ‘under grace’?
Well to put it plainly the ancient Israelites were NEVER ‘under’ Torah as we understand it today!!! You know that the word ‘grace’ meaning unmerited favour and is the Hebrew word ‘chasad’ actually appears 251 times in the Tenakh (OT) – 5 times more than in the Renewed Covenant (N.T.)!!!
Sadly Paul’s writings have been twisted and misused. Paul used ‘under law’ in a negative sense to teach against legalism which is the wrong use of Torah and trying to pervert it into a list of do’s and don’ts for the purpose of earning ones salvation.
Law or ‘the’ Law
As you study Scriptures and dig in to the original texts and the translations thereof, one can often find some translational additions that were merely added based on the translators understanding. One of these, in this letter to the Galatians, is a simple little word, ‘the’. In most cases where the term ‘the law’ is found in the N.T. the definite article ‘the’ is not in the original Greek! You then have to ask yourself, ‘does this make any difference?’ And boy yes it does!!! It is like saying ‘the car’ or simply ‘car’. With the definite article ‘the’ it refers to a specific car and not just any car, well the same applies here to law.
The term ‘law’ itself without the definite article ‘the’ preceding it can simply refer to:
(a) any legal code of do’s and don’ts without reference to faith, heart conviction or love; (b) legalism; (c) a perversion of the Torah into a system of do’s and don’ts to earn, merit or keep Elohim’s love and favour and thereby to receive salvation.
So if law could refer to any legal code of do’s and don’t and not directly refer to the Torah alone then one can begin to understand Paul’s writing a little better, and in order to do that one has to be familiar with what ‘other’ ‘laws’ were there that he may have been referring to? First we must understand what Yahweh tells us in his Word:
Deuteronomy 4:2 “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of YHWH your God that I give you.”
You know the first person to add to His Word was Eve or Hawah in Hebrew: they were told not to eat of the tree… when the instructions of Yahweh got twisted by the serpent (surely he didn’t mean…)… she said they may not eat or touch… she added to his instruction! Look what happened – Listen, when you stay in His Word without addition or subtraction you will be kept safe in Him – it is when we add or subtract that things get all fuzzy and messed up, we become confused and make wrong choices based on twisted truth!
Why did I tell you this? Well because adding is exactly what happened to the Torah of Yahweh and it was this very addition that made an impossible yoke to bear that Yahshua came to destroy – He came to destroy man’s addition to law that brings legalism and bondage into slavery and He came to set the captives free to walk in Him, taking His yoke, His Torah which is easy and light!!! So by the time Paul was writing this there had been so much addition to the Torah that the Torah was not even a third of the ‘whole law’ that was being taught! The greek word for law is ‘nomos’ which gives reference to ‘anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, a law, a command or any law whatsoever’, and so this in no way gives reference only to the Torah but in many cases to other laws in addition to the Torah.
There were precedents and interpretations that were set as law, for example:
‘Halachat’ – Pharisaic interpretations of the Torah, made law through what is known as ‘midrash’.
‘Takanot’ – New laws added to the written Torah with no Scriptural justification
‘Minhagim’ – Traditional customs that became law
‘Ma’asim’ – Rabbinical precedents that led to Takanot
Now as you can well imagine, with all these additions to the Torah – the yoke that is easy, had become heavily burdened by man’s laws, and this is what Paul was taking a stand against. Paul was making a stand against any form of legalism, or rather man made system of works. So in the text the proper phrase should be rendered, ‘under law’ and not ‘under the law’. The addition to the English translation of ‘the’ to law where it was not in the original Greek certainly has steered the meaning of the word ‘law’ toward the Torah. Another phrase which we find in Galatians is ‘observance of the law’ or in some translations ‘the works of the law’ should be rendered ‘the works of law’, as it is not referring to the Torah, but is a phrase referring to any man-made system of works which has performance based acceptance as a core belief. These works of law in Galatians are better referred to as the ‘ma’asim’ – those rabbinical precedents that led to laws being added to Torah without Scriptural authority. Paul in his letter to the Galatians is, in other words, referring to a misuse or perversion of the Torah by adding to it a turning it into a works based, legalistic system which the Torah was never and is never intended to be.
This perversion of works based laws was mans way of trying to earn salvation as given through the example of Hagar and Ishmael – Ishmael was born in the natural way – through Abraham’ ‘works’ trying to enter into the promises, as opposed to Yahweh’s way – Isaac – the son of the promise that is from above and not of man’s works. Yahweh’s way, the way of Sarah and proper use of Torah teaches that salvation is by grace through faith that leads to a producing of ‘good works’ with the help of the Spirit of Elohim living in us – and not through our own human efforts)
The Tenakh (O.T.) teaches that no one’s works are sufficient to earn him being declared righteous by Yahweh – it is only by his grace through faith in Messiah Yahshua that He died for our sins and was raised to life on the third day by the Father.
The Greek word for ‘under’ as used in the phrase ‘under law’ is ‘upo’ which means controlled by or in subjection to. So under law would mean controlled by or in subjection to law/legalism. Understanding this, then how is one ‘under’ grace?
Controlled by or in subjection to ‘grace’! In the same sense then we have accepted Yahshua’s yoke, which is easy and light to be ‘upo’ or under, in total contrast to the yoke of legalism which is not easy and is a burden. Stern in his commentary contends that Yahweh’s people are living ‘en’ (within – the framework of the Torah), but not to be ‘upo’ (subjection to) legalism. We are in a faith relationship with Him and His people have always been ‘under’ grace and in effect ‘under’ the Torah which is a gracious subjection, but never under legalism, which is a harsh subjection. We are ‘under’ the Father’s Torah or instruction as we walk in His grace, but through Messiah Yahshua, in His death for our sins and taking upon Himself the curse of Torah, we are no longer under the condemnation of the Law or the Torah – this is His grace for us, amen!
Messiah came not so we could get away with sin, but so we could get away FROM sin! His work and walk was an example for us, not an excuse for us not to walk as He did!
When we read Paul’s letter understanding what he was referring to as law or the whole law, it clearly makes sense how against man’s works to earn salvation and position he was. So against it he expressed his anger in saying that if they want to keep all their man made laws and trying to impose circumcision on the new believers then those agitators should rather just go and emasculate themselves!!! Another thing for us to realise is that Paul never spoke against the teachings of the Torah, or rather the teachings of Yahshua, who is the living Word, the living Torah. Isaiah 40:8 tells us that the Word of Elohim stands forever! Sadly many today have done the exact opposite of adding to the Torah – they have taken away from the Torah in a desperate response to walking out from the works of laws or works of man made laws.
The Torah was given as a way of life and Paul in Galatians calls us to follow it this manner:
Galatians 5:13-14 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Paul continually stressed that love is esteemed as the way to follow Torah and he stresses this point in:
Galatians 6:2 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Messiah.”
He was referring to Leviticus 19:18 when speaking here – he always referred back to Torah – Yahweh’s ways – not man’s!
Leviticus 19:18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am YHWH.”
The freedom that he speaks of in Galatians is in reference to the freedom that man has been given to walk out the Torah without the bondage of man’s traditions. Galatians 3:13 tells us that that Yahshua has freed us from the curse spoken of in 3:10. The curse that He took upon Himself enables us to work out the commands of the entire Word of Elohim without the fear of being cursed or condemned. Yahshua did not bring the Torah to and end, he was the end of it – in other words the completion of what Torah is, he fully filled it – that we may understand and live it, amen! As Galatians 6:2 (quoted above) says – by carrying each others burdens we ‘fulfil’ the Law (Torah) of Messiah! So we too can walk in the fullness of it as we have been given the way by Yahshua Messiah. He fully filled it bringing it in its fullness that we too can walk in the fullness of it, as we walk in Him, having been saved by Grace through faith and now by His Spirit equipped to walk in Him ‘fully’!
These false teachers in Galatia were trying to enslave the new converts all over again – they had been set free from death and slavery to their previous way of life by grace through faith in Yahshua, and Paul in chapter 4:21 was basically saying, listen you who want to be under law, not ‘the law’, in other words, ‘under legalism’ – do you not realise what ‘the’ which is there in the Greek – ‘the Law’ referring to the Torah of Elohim. He was saying listen you who want to or are trying to be under man’s laws – are you not aware what Elohim’s Law or His Torah says – salvation is by grace through faith – not of works!
The key to understanding Galatians rests in the knowledge of the letters purpose – the purpose of the letter was to show that justification or right standing in Yahweh’s eyes comes through faith alone and not through perverting the Torah into legalism by the addition of man made rules or works. The just shall live by faith! And in walking out our faith we walk in His instructions or Torah.
I encourage you all to start seeing the wonder and beauty of this great letter – Paul was an excellent Torah teacher – he never undermined the very Word of Elohim – he upheld it passionately and so should we. We are in a time where we are truly realising just how the opposite has been done, by taking away from the very yoke that leads us in peace and joy. Living without law is sin, lawlessness is ‘anomia’ in Greek (a – nomos) – without instruction – without Torah – we cannot afford to live without the Torah – we cannot afford to live without the very Living Word giving us direction and guidance for every step we take.
Let us not make the same mistake, although in reverse, by not walking in His ways – He has given us His Word for our benefit, that we may know Him and declare His glory right here right now as we lovingly obey Him.
Praise Yahweh that through Yahshua he has broken the yoke of slavery – that man made system of works that only enslaves you. Yahshua modelled for us how we should live and we are to walk as He walked, living and obedient life, not enslaved by traditions and rules of men. Just as we can see how today many have taken away from His Torah which is lawlessness, using grace as a license to sin – sin is to miss the mark – whereas the torah is the mark. Through grace we can fix our eyes on the mark – Yahshua – The very Word – and run unhindered the race set before us, amen!
In the same breath we have inherited traditions of man that has pagan roots and taken them on as acceptable modes of worship unto Yahweh – how different then are we in today’s times compared to that of Paul’s. In effect in today’s accepted mode of worship we can easily see how man has ‘taken away’ from the Torah and ‘added’ man’s own laws. One of these is the Sabbath. Man has taken away from the Torah and added his own Sabbath law, as we discussed a few weeks ago. Another interesting note on the Sabbath – According to the Torah there are basically only 7 commands or instructions regarding the Sabbath – and by the time Yahshua had come in the flesh there were well over 1000 additional ‘Sabbath’ laws that man had added, placing huge burdens and unbearable yokes on man!!! The Catholic church took away from the Torah by stripping the observance of Sabbath according to the Torah of Elohim and added a Sun-day law that has become man’s addition to their self imposed worship unto Yahweh. Let us strip away the rules of men, disguised as freedom, and let us embrace truly the heart of the Torah of Elohim, living it out expressed in loving obedience to our wonderful Maker.
Have you misunderstood Paul’s message? Embrace the truth of the letter that is total harmony with the teachings of Yahshua.
I could go on and on, however I encourage you all to go and further dig into the TRUTH of the Word and discover for yourself the wonder and joy of walking in Him in love expressed through total obedient living.
Let me leave you with some of the verses in Galatians where the word ‘the’ should be or shouldn’t be there. This you can easily check by going to an interlinear Bible where the English and Greek are together and enjoy discovering the Truth, amen!
Galatians 2: 15-16 term ‘observance of the law’ or ‘works of the law’ should be properly rendered ‘observance of law’ or ‘works of law’. The definite article ‘the’ is not present in the original Greek before ‘law’!
“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing law, but by faith in Yahshua Messiah. So we, too, have put our faith in Messiah and not by observing law because by observing law no one will be justified”
Galatians 2:19 – ‘the’ is not present in the original Greek text:
“For through law I died to law, so that I may live for Elohim.”
Galatians 3:2 – ‘the’ as the definite article for law is not present:
“I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing law, or by believing what you heard?”
Observing law or rather works of law gives reference to ‘ma’asim’ –remember – those rabbinical precedents that led to ‘Takkanot’. Paul is asking whether they received the Holy Spirit through works of law – those oral ‘laws’ instituted by man!!!
Galatians 3:10-11 – definite article ‘the’ is found only once in reference to law in these two verses
“All who rely on observing law (ma’asei) are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. Clearly no one is justified before Elohim by law, because, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Praise be to Yahshua our Messiah who redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us so that the blessing given to Abraham may come to us trough faith in Messiah and that by faith we may receive the promise of the Spirit – which is salvation.
Galatians 3:19 – ‘the’ is present:
“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise had come.”
Galatians 3:21 – ‘the’ is present in the first law and not in the next 2:
“Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of Elohim? Absolutely not! For is law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by law.
Galatians 3:23 - ‘the’ not present with law:
“Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by law, locked up until faith should be revealed.”
‘Prisoners’ by law’ can also be rendered ‘under law’. Before faith they were held captive by laws – heavy burdens – laws of man that was imposing a works based system for salvation, and as we know salvation is by grace through faith.
Galatians 3:24 – ‘the is present’
“The law was put in charge to lead us to Messiah that we may be justified by faith.”
The law was a tutor or schoolmaster that led us to Messiah that we may be justified by faith. The terminology used here gives reference to those who were put in charge of young boys and the boys were in effect not allowed to even put a step out of the house without permission. By faith we are no longer under the supervision of a schoolmaster, we are now as verse 26 tells us, sons of Elohim through faith in Messiah Yahshua, for we who have been baptised into Messiah have clothed ourselves with Him, and we are therefore heirs according to the promise.
Chapter 4:4 tells us that when the time had fully come – Yahshua was born ‘under law’ to redeem those ‘under law’, that we might receive the full rights as sons!!! Because we are sons, Elohim sent the Spirit of Yahshua into our hearts and we are no longer slaves but sons. What does Scriptures say – He has written His renewed covenant on our hearts – His Torah is now written on our hearts and is in our mouths that we may obey Him.
Galatians 4:21 – ‘the’ is not used in the first law, but is used in the second!
“Tell me, you who want to be under law, are you not aware of what the law says?”
In other words – you who want to be under legalism, under all these yokes of man – do you not know what the Law or rather the Torah says? – You are not saved by observing law – saved by Grace through faith
Galatians 5:4 – there is no ‘the’ in the original text:
“You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Messiah; you have fallen away from grace.”
5:6 tells us that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love! What is love for Elohim? That you obey His commands – that you obey His Torah! We obey His Torah out of love because we are saved, not to get saved!
Paul carries on and tells us that the entire law (The Torah – not with mans laws included!) is summed up in a single command – love your neighbour as yourself – where he was in act referencing the Torah from Leviticus 19:18!!! He was addressing the heart of what was going on – those agitators were trying to impose stuff on the new converts that was never to be imposed on them – they should have loved them Elohim’s way!
We are led by the Spirit. 5:18 says that if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law (notice no ‘the’)
Galatians 6:2 (quoted above) – we fulfil the law as we carry each others burdens – LOVE
These are just some if the verses that when translated correctly brings greater clarity as to what Paul is saying. Paul was a great teacher of the Torah of Elohim, and he stood against that yoke that man had added to the Torah of Elohim. He himself was one of those who persecuted early believers when he embraced the ‘whole law’ including man’s additions until Yahshua met him and stripped away the lies and traditions of men that was putting a burden on peoples shoulders that was too hard to carry. Yahshua says – those who are heavy laden should come to him and take His yoke – His Torah, His instructions for His yoke is easy. May we be a people who do not simply throw off Yahshua’s yoke in error by turning grace into lawlessness, but rather take up His yoke and so be led by His Spirit as true sons of Elohim.
Galatians is really a great letter and a great empowering letter that helps us see how Paul loved the Torah and stood against anything that was added or taken away. May we too do the same as we live for Yahweh in obedience to His Word which stands forever!
