Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. 1
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1 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ga 6:12–16.
OPENING REMARKS
Righteousness, not true righteousness, but the appearance of it, that is denying the power of it … this is what this whole movement (BLM/Cultural Marxism) is about. For if humanity in their carnality desired true righteousness, they would not need to exert their mental faculties to create it and expend their energies in fighting for it… it is already in front of them, accomplished in its perfection and ready to be received in the person of Christ. But to them, this Christ is a stumbling block, they despise Him and His righteousness and thus refuse to have any share in it. Thus, they commit violence in creating false ideologies, ideologies that have every appearance of righteousness but denying its power… and thus lead many astray to boast in their shame. The Church needs to gird up her loins and hold fast to the gospel, not put it aside for this new ideologue - you may win the hearts of those around you in adopting their stance, but Christ will have none of it, and unless the Church repents of its way, He will soon remove your lamp-stand for your apostasy.
AN EXPOSITION OF GALATIANS 6:12-16
The whole Black Lives Matter/ Inter-sectionality movement is built on the premise of division by a form of righteousness marked by ethnic/sexual/gender superiority under the facade of being a victim of oppression. Their goal is to make you a card-holding member of their kingdom's ideologue, or a sorry person if not. This is equivalent to the Jews who neglected the work of Christ in making YHWH the God of all peoples. This of course led them to demand circumcision (in order to bring Gentiles not to membership in the Kingdom of God, but to membership in the kingdom of Israel).
Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh
are trying to compel you to be circumcised.
is equivalent to ...
are trying to compel you to join in their ideology of righteousness by intersectionality/victimhood
The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
Notice, racial reconciliation is something already accomplished in the person of Christ… yet those outside the body want none of it… they want to recreate a racial reconciliation that is apart from Christ… a product that is inferior and doomed to fail.
Why do they do this… they are ashamed of the cross, and they do not want to be persecuted by those outside the body of Christ.
e.g. the liberal church and even those of the reformed tradition who buckle under the pressure of secular morality are giving in to the pressure to put aside the message of the work of Christ in favour of the message of BLM movement.
Not even those who are circumcised (BLM) keep the law (loot and kill), yet they want you to be circumcised (adopt their ideologue) that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh (apostasy).
Notice then, how those who have no part in Christ desire to appear more righteous than the righteousness freely given and accomplished in Christ. It is not racial reconciliation they want, for if they wanted that they would come to Christ - because racial reconciliation comes perfected in the person of Christ alone. They want a Christ-less form of righteousness, and they label it under the high moral banner of racial reconciliation, not because they want to be righteous before God (they have not the fear of God), but appear as morally superior before men.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.
Paul himself understood that any form of righteousness that is found apart from the person and work of Christ counts for nothing. The only thing (righteousness) that counts, is the new creation (racial reconciliation in Christ - there is neither Jew nor Gentile, Black or White, etc).
Through which the world has been crucified to me ... Those who hold on to their ethnicity as their card of righteousness has in no way crucified their earthly heritage; likewise they, in holding on to their worldly heritage can in no way take hold of their heavenly heritage of being one-flesh/one-heavenly race with God's people in the body of Christ. How sad then for the church of God to walk away from its' heavenly inheritance in Christ in favour of one that is passing away.
Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.
Peace and mercy, both things that cannot be had apart from the person and work of Christ. Those who live and walk by the Spirit in Christ will receive Peace and Mercy. Those who seek reconciliation outside of the work of Christ will not partake in this Peace and Mercy.
The name of the peoples are not divided by their ethnicity, but in Christ, they are one - the Israel of God.
These are the blessed people, people of every tongue, tribe and nation, who boast not in the morality of their ethnicity but in the righteousness of Christ alone, the righteousness that both humbles and unites all humanity. Those who abide by this rule, are indeed the Israel of God (true people of God).
APPLICATION: Practical implications
Black lives matter is a statement that is amiable but a divisive statement that does violence to how the Bible would distinguish between the race of Adam. Nonetheless, a Christian who walks in the Spirit of Christ interacts with people of different colours (more or less melanin) showing no partiality. It is the principle of living Coram Deo, in the face of God, that ensures that Christians who make a practice of walking in step with the Spirit treats all in a dignified and respectful manner. However, the issue at hand is not so much violence or the dehumanization of blacks as a sole issue - racism and the dehumanization of fellow human beings is not a symptom restricted to any specific race of people. Sin knows no boundaries inclusive of skin-colour, but it permeates all creation. The primary pitfall of the BLM movement is the failure to recognize that the racial-reconciliation they claim to want, has already been achieved in the Christ whom they have blatantly rejected. Jesus is uniting all creation to himself, and in light of this truth, there is no longer any Jew nor Gentile distinction in Christ. Together, those who identify and belong to Christ, do so by laying aside worldly ties, inclusive of the worldly ideologue of distinguishing race by colour. The LORD Jesus knows of no race other than that of Adam's race... notice that it is every nation, tribe, language and peoples who are in heaven whom God calls and saves to worship Him (Rev 14:6). Nowhere are we distinguished by the amount of melanin in our skin. For us to make a division to the race of Adam in this manner is to miss out on the reconciliation of all peoples in Christ. Christ in establishing the New Covenant by His blood has become our Federal Head, together we stand under that banner and that banner alone. The fallacy of dividing one another up by the colour of our skin cannot be backed by scripture; scripture which distinguishes between peoples by nation, tribe, and language. Last I checked outside my window, every nation, tribe and language have people of differing amounts of melanin in their skin, and it is these very people to whom Christ has laid his life down for in order to unite them to himself as one-flesh. Let what God has put together not be torn asunder by man and his pitiful ideologues of any form of righteousness apart from that which has been revealed to us in Christ Jesus.
CONCLUDING REMARKS: Herald, be sure to hold fast your King's Trumpet
May the Church of Christ not disdain the work and person of Christ by putting aside her duty to be a herald of the Gospel even in these times. May we be warned lest we ourselves become as traitors to the Kingdom of God in lending our King's Trumpet to the mouth of the great harlot of worldly righteousness - that is a righteousness apart from Christ, and sound an abominable tune. We may well be sure that many Churches who have done so will soon find their trumpet taken away, and their lampstand removed and dashed to pieces on the day of our LORD's coming.
Soli Deo Gloria,
May the LORD have mercy on his church and the people whom we serve,
Pistis Lau
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