The Wickedness of Gospel Distorters — John MacArthur // February 11, 2018
False teachers hinder from the truth. Paul liked to use the metaphor of a race, very popular form of activity in the ancient world. “You were running well,” he says, using the metaphor of the race. He used it back in chapter 2, verse 2 when he talked about himself running. This was a very common metaphor, moving rapidly ahead. He is saying, “You started out so well.”
Back in chapter 3, verse 3, “You begun in the Spirit. You’re moving so well. You were running well.” Collectively he’s looking at the church and seeing everything seemed to be going in the right direction. But again it’s “you,” it’s not “we.”
“We through the Spirit” – in verse 5 – “embraces only believers.” But here it’s “you,” and that means it’s the people in the congregation, some of whom were listening to these Judaizing teachers and being seduced into adherence to that. We know that, because back in chapter 4, verse 10, he says, “You observe days and months and season and years, and I fear that perhaps I’ve labored over you in vain. You seem to have already stepped into some of these forms of external Judaism. But you were running well. Who hindered you?” Not asking for a name or names, it’s a rhetorical question. “You’ve got to understand who it is that is hindering you.”
They’re passing themselves off as scholars of the Old Testament. They were very likely connected to the Pharisees. They are the kind of people who would let you think that they came from Jerusalem, that they have the authority of James, who was the leader of the Jerusalem church, that they bear some apostolic weight. “They have a credential or so to impress you. But let’s be honest; who are they really who hinder you? Who are they?”
In the larger scheme of things today they may be religious leaders. They may wear robes. They may be priests, they may be patriarchs, they may be popes or cardinals or bishops, they may be pastors, they may be whatever. They may have titles, education. But who are they really?
These Judaizers had stepped into the race that the Galatians were running well and put up obstacles. They had put a blockage in the pathway, and they had caused these people – some, no doubt, even believers – wondering about this, and certainly those that were on the edge of faith thinking maybe this is the right way to go, and they would have turned their backs on faith and walked right into legalism and right into destruction.
They certainly attacked Paul’s apostolic authority, they must have attacked the truth of the Old Testament, and they certainly had to attack the Holy Spirit’s power. So they were attacking all the categories of evidence that Paul uses in this book. They were throwing legalism at these people, and it was interrupting the race and making the runners hesitant and confused. And their confusion led Paul to be perplexed, back in chapter 4, verse 20. Paul doesn’t want an answer from them except to listen to him, and he will answer the rhetorical question himself: “Who is it that hinders you from obeying the truth?”
Now what does it mean to obey the truth? That is a key interpretive phrase in this section. To obey the truth essentially in the New Testament means “to believe the gospel.” It means “to believe the gospel.