"For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5.5)

Paul was incensed. No other of his letters was written with the urgency and vehemence that he displays when writing to the Galatians. What other company of new Christians does he describe to their faces as foolish and senseless, 'dear idiots' as the Phillips version has it. For he had spent time with them and been cared for by them in his time of physical weakness. He had seen the Gospel bear fruit among them as the Holy Spirit affected their lives. Then he had moved on, as he spread the message leaving 'Asia' (Turkey) and going into Europe. Later on, he came to hear that these trusting believers who had become his good friends, were being persuaded to let go of his teachings and to have doubts about his status as God's messenger.

Through all his career as missionary, Paul was pursued by 'the Jews'. Paul, brought up in the Jewish tradition, had learned that they were the one and only people God had chosen, who must be obedient to the Law, and were marked out by the sign of circumcision. When he was converted, he came to know, and teach, that God has chosen people for His kingdom from all nations and not one only. He taught that the Jewish Law is subsidiary to Christ's teaching of love, and that the sign of belonging to Him is an inner renewing, not any outward sign. Consequently, he was pursued by the Jews.. There were the outright opponents who tried to kill him, and there were Jewish Christians who believed in Jesus the Christ, but tried to insert all the old Jewish requirements alongside Paul's teaching. It was these men who were active in the new churches in Galatia when Paul wrote his letter to them.

So we come to consider a verse near the end of Paul's letter. He has been urging the Galatians to stand fast in their Christian freedom, free from Jewish rules and regulations. In particular, Paul told them that if you rely on being circumcised it takes you out of the position where you are united to Christ, within range of His grace, and puts you in the position where you can not expect God to approve of you unless you keep every one of the regulations of the Jewish Law. By contrast, "we" - Paul and those who believed as he did - had different expectations.

These were not based on law-keeping but "through the Spirit". All through this letter Paul keeps referring to the Holy Spirit as the ground of their life and hope. What had happened in their lives as they became believers? They had heard the good news that Paul first told them, of Jesus who loved them and gave Himself for them. Jesus had died and risen to life again, and His resurrection was something that they too would experience, because in Him their sin was forgiven. When they believed, the experience of the Spirit had come upon them. They were new people. Their life was now the life of the living Christ within them (2.20). All that mattered (for them, and it is so for us) was the power of new birth (6.15). It was when they believed the message that they received the Spirit of Christ (3.2). It became a reality for them by faith, that is, by believing (3.14). God's intention in sending His Son into the world was to make them His sons, and because of this He was sending the Spirit of Christ into their hearts. So they responded to Him as Father (4.6). All this is what was happening in their lives.

It was an experience of freedom, of liberty. They were free in Christ. But Paul was well aware, that if you take away the structure of laws and rules, then there is the temptation to use freedom for just anything. That is why he told the Galatians that they must make a conscious decision to follow the leading of the Spirit. If they lived their life as in the Spirit, they would not live according to their lower nature. He spelt out to them such things as immorality, jealousy, drunkenness. On the other hand, the fruit in human life of the Spirit is love, and joy, and peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance, self-control. If our lives are centred in the Spirit, let us in fact be guided by the Spirit (5.16,22,25). It is the activity of the new nature that removes the need for laws. It is "sowing to the Spirit" that leads to the harvest of everlasting life. So do not get tired of doing good.

It is interesting to notice that while the text as we have quoted reads "through the Spirit" ‑ other versions have 'by' the Spirit, or 'in' the Spirit (there is no preposition in the Greek). Through the work of the Spirit come the blessings which Paul describes. By the Spirit one is given power to live the life. In the domain of the Spirit (and not in the domain of Law) is to be found the experience of Life. The question can arise for modern Christians whether the glowing truths of the gospel have ossified into rules which we expect to obey. How much of our religion is a matter of "don't do this", "you must do that"? ‑ for example, no gambling? no TV? keeping to traditional rituals in church? venerating one particular version of Scripture? ‑ when as the real basis of our faith we should be seeking to love Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the happiness He gives us, present and future.

Next in the Greek text come the words translated "by faith", we "wait for the hope of righteousness by faith". Does faith here apply to the waiting, or to the hope, or does it apply to the righteousness? "Wait in faith" or "hope with faith" or "righteousness by faith"? One might answer, all.

Faith in this context is not so much a body of beliefs, a creed, 'the' faith, as it is an active principle of life, the life of trusting and believing and relying. Such a faith could in theory be misplaced, but Paul has reminded the Galatians of where their faith lies. Or, it could be merely nominal, for as James explains (2.14-26), an apparent faith which does not result in living the life has no real existence. Or, it may seem to us that our faith is weak and inadequate. However, Jesus knew about faith as small 'as a grain of mustard seed and is ready to 'help our unbelief'. The state of faith which Paul describes, as he himself lives the life of trusting and believing, is of passionate rather than passive waiting. Different translations give the thought as 'expectantly wait', as 'wait eagerly', as 'wait with longing hope'.

Hope for what? Looking in this particular verse, the expression is 'hope of righteousness'. This can be understood in various ways, as the translations show. It can mean 'the righteousness we hope to see', that is, the hope of being righteous ourselves in future. Another version has 'the rewards that righteousness hopes for', implying that we are righteous now and this present righteousness is the basis of hopes for the future. Yet another version puts it, 'the hope that comes from being right with God', which is similar - it emphasises the fact of hoping. Being righteous now makes us hope, and also is the ground of future blessings.

The meaning of 'righteous' has to be understood. Paul explained it to Christians in Rome a few years later (10.5,9) 'Righteousness-by-the-law...' says that the man who perfectly obeys the law shall find life in it, righteousness-by-faith...says... "If you openly admit by your own lips that Jesus is the Lord, and if you believe in your own heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved'." It is not a case of thinking "I am a good Christian, I am righteous, God is pleased with me, everything will be fine." Rather, "I trust in Jesus and His mercy, which I do not deserve."

This sort of righteousness now is the grounds of hope for the future. One of the translations has in Galatians 5.5 the words, "an acceptance with God which is to come through faith". God accepts us now, in Christ. God will accept us at Christ's coming, because of faith. So faith is not only a state of trusting while we wait, it is the basis of being 'right with God' in the future. Vine in his dictionary puts it high: 'the believer's complete conformity to God's will at the coming of Christ'. At that stage God's work by His Spirit and through our faith will be complete. At that time the believer will no longer approach God as a hoping, trusting, believing sinner: God will have put you just where He wants you to be!

Just have faith.

GC