The war between the states ended as it did in large measure
because of Stonewall Jackson's defeat by his own men. Jackson was
fighting brilliantly, and he had the entire Eleventh Union Corps on
the run. He then planned his strategy for the final blow. He was
within half a mile of the one road over which Hooker's whole army
must retreat. He was in a position to destroy the main Federal
Army, and it looked like nothing could stand in his way.
Riding forward with a few officers, his own men mistook the
party for enemy cavalry, and they fired. Jackson was hit and
carried back to a field hospital where he lay unconscious. He was
unable to share his plans for a glorious victory, and so the chance
for it passed and never returned. It has been true time and time
again through history that men have been their own worst enemies.
This has been true for the church as well. Very seldom has the
church been injured or stopped by outside forces. Usually outside
opposition has helped the church to grow. The real enemy of the
church has always been division within.
Religious wars have been the most fierce, and more Christians
have died at the hands of other professing Christians than by any
other group. All of God's prophets were killed by God's own people,
and finally they even killed His Son. The majority of the great
martyrs in Christian history were killed, not by atheists or
unbelievers, but by those who professed to believe in the God of the
Bible. It is a paradox, but the fact is, Christians have suffered their
greatest defeats at the hands of other Christians.
Quite often it has been the case that powerful unbelievers, or
hypocritical believers, have been able to stir up Christians against
one another. Hitler was able to get many thousands of Christians to
fight against other Christians. The point of this is to introduce us to
the perplexing issue of just who the Judaizers were who were
disturbing the Galatians, and just what did Paul mean when he
called a curse down upon them? Paul uses the strongest language he
ever used in this passage, and we need to ask some questions about
it. We need to ask if Paul is consigning the Judaizers to eternal
damnation by this curse. He says, "Let them be anathema. What is
the meaning of anathema?
Paul used it of himself in Rom. 9:3 where he expresses deep
emotion. "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off
from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsman by race."
Obviously Paul had no real desire to be accursed, but he expressed
just how deeply he loved his own people and longed for their
salvation. If Paul was willing to be accursed for the sake of
unbelieving Jews, then it is likely that his curse upon the Judaizers is
not a wish for their damnation. If it is so interpreted, then Paul is so
mad that he is not being consistent with his own teaching. He wrote
in Rom. 12:14, "Blest those who persecute you; bless and do not curse
them." Paul goes on just a few verses later and tells of how he
persecuted Christians and tried to destroy the church. It was only
by the grace of God that he was not accursed, for no one deserved it
more than him. But God forgave him, and we cannot doubt that
Paul would rejoice in other Jews repenting of their folly and trusting
in Christ for their salvation.
It must be possible to be accursed and yet still repent and be free
of the curse. If not one could make one mistake and be in a hopeless
state. In Gal. 2:11 we see that Peter stood condemned, and even
Barnabas. Paul's great friend and companion were persuaded by
the Judaizers to compromise the Gospel of grace. We know these
two were true believers, and yet they were persuaded to become
enemies of themselves and of the Gospel. It is likely they were
persuaded because the Judaizers were very godly Christian men
who had compelling arguments. It is hard to believe they would be
willing to listen to non-believers.
They would argue that Jesus was circumcised, and if we follow
the Lord in baptism, why not in circumcision? Lets be consistent
they would argue, and they were able to get even these strong
believers to waver and be confused. The point is, these Judaizers
were not godless men with no interest in the church. They were
believers who were out to save the church from Paul's Gospel, which
abandoned the law and let the Gentiles into the kingdom of God all
too freely by grace. The battle was an internal one among believers,
and this makes a big difference in how we understand Paul's curse.
If you have any doubt about the Judaizers being true Christians,
all you have to do is to study Acts 15. That whole chapter deals with
the great controversy of believers over grace and law. The Judaizers
lost the controversy, but there is no question about their being
believers. Verse 5 says, "But some believers who belonged to the
party of the Pharisees rose up, and said, 'It is necessary to circumcise
them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses.'" It is
possible to be a believer who is still a legalist who tries to modify
grace with the law. This was not a gathering of leaders to consider
the views of non-Christians. It was to considers the views of those
who were sincerely convinced that they were defending the will of
God by trying to impose the law on the Gentiles.
So what does this mean in the light of being accursed, as it applies
to believers? Paul included himself, Peter, the angels, and anyone
who preaches a different gospel. Is Paul hoping that all who disagree
with him will go to hell and be damned forever because of this
curse? Not at all. He is not hoping to populate hell by these strong
words. Their purpose is to prevent both abuse of the Gospel and
acceptance of any abuse or perversion of it. Jesus had to get severe
with Peter once and said to him, "Get thee behind me Satan," right
to his face. Peter was allowing himself to be a tool of Satan to oppose
the will of Christ. Believers can fall into dangerous error, and they
can be used by Satan to hinder the truth.
Paul's purpose in Acts 15 and here is to get the Judaizers to fully
grasp what the Gospel of grace is all about, and to get them to stop
perverting it with legalism. The use of anathema here needs to be
seen in the light of the three degrees of its meaning. 1. It can refer to
the being cast out of the synagogue as a warning to repent. 2. It can
mean a death sentence, which is a taking of their physical life. 3. It
can mean the infliction of God's wrath in the day of judgment. Any
one of them can apply to a believer, and Paul may have had all three
in mind here.
In the synagogue it meant that one was excommunicated, and it
came to have this meaning in the church. By the fourth century
anathema meant a heretic was excommunicated from the church.
This is likely the meaning Peter had in mind when he used anathema
in connection with himself in Mark 14:71. "But he began to invoke a
curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man..." In Acts
23:12 it is used in connection with a strong oath. "..the Jews made a
plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till
they had killed Paul." Both Peter and these Jews failed and brought
on themselves their curse. Obviously they were not condemning
themselves to hell.
In the light of this usage of the word, Paul, no doubt, meant that
the Judaizers were not to be welcomed into the church. They were to
be excluded, cut off, and rejected as men bearing a message that
contradicted the Gospel. Let them be anathema, or keep them out of
you fellowship, for they will pervert your faith. They were to be
rejected because they were contaminating the Gospel. John says
something like this in II John 10, "If anyone comes to you and does
not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him
any greeting." In other words, we are not to give ear to, nor support
to, those who pervert the Gospel with legalism, or any other
perversion. Let them be anathema. Let them be excluded from
fellowship and support.
If this person is a believer, they will have to change when they see
they are rejected, or they will have to face the judgment of God in
the final day. They are condemned, but not damned. It can be so
serious that the death sentence can be involved. Paul writes in I Cor.
5:5 about one who was perverting his sex life, and it was known in
the church. He said, "You are to deliver this man to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus." He would be ultimately saved, but he was to lose his
life in judgment for his perversion. He suffers the curse of anathema
and is cut off from the church and life, but he is not condemned to
hell.
Paul's point here in Galatians is that anyone who perverts the
Gospel is to be accursed. They are to suffer the condemnation of the
church so that they will repent. If they do not do so, they must suffer
the judgment of God. Does this happen to believer? Yes it does, and
there is a whole history of believer who have had to suffer this curse
because of their perversions of the Gospel.
