In stock car racing, the fastest drivers can be done in by the slowest cars. How the race leaders deal with lapped traffic often determines who take the checkered flag. They have to carefully navigate past slower cars lap after lap in order to win the race. One mistake or distraction can cost you a trip to victory lane.
That's what Paul is talking about here in these two verses. The last time he saw them, the Galatian believers had been roaring around the speedway at a record pace.
Suddenly they've lost the lead. And now they're falling farther and farther behind. Like a good crew chief, the apostle uses his unique perspective to help them understand what's happening and how to get back in the race.
"You were running well" (v7). Paul is actually using racing terminology here. OK, not auto racing jargon, but running terminology. The Greek verb here is τρεχω/trecho. It means run fast, sprinting hard, giving it everything you've got.
The last time he checked, the Galatians had the pedal to the metal. They were flying around the track. The tense of the verb is the imperfect form. This indicates that these new believers had sustained progress. They had made more than one lap around the track.
The apostle repeatedly uses this running/racing analogy. Jesus' followers are to run hard and with laser focus (1Cor 9:24-26). We're to set our eyes on Jesus and run through the finish line (Heb 12:1). And Paul wanted to make sure he was running not only with good form but in the right direction (Gal 2:2; Phil 2:16).
Let's be sure. The Christian life is certainly a marathon, not a sprint. But Christ calls us to run this race with abandon, giving it everything we've got.
But something has happened. Something has dragged them off of the race pace. "Who hindered you from obeying the truth?" (v7). We see another interesting verb in the original language here. It's the Greek word εγκοπτω/egkopto.
It describes the act of getting in the way and preventing progress. Outside the Bible, the term can mean "to knock in." Not only have slower cars impeded the progress of the Galatians around the track, they've dished out a little sheet metal in the process.
This isn't just accident or incidental contact. These slower cars are looking to do serious damage and knock Jesus' followers out of the race.
This is what our enemy does. Satan doesn't need to win the race to gain his victory. All he needs to do is to distract us from winning. He waits until we come up on him and then he starts denting our quarter panel.
We must remember that the race of life is a spiritual battle (Eph 6:12). And the Deceiver will use every trick in his evil bag against us.
In the churches of Galatia, our enemy used the Judaizers to distract these new believers from running the race in grace. Just after Paul left town, they rolled in to peddle a false gospel of works righteousness.
It's up to us to keep ourselves saved, they said. And they were more than happy to give them the spiritual to-do list to try. At the top of the list was circumcision.
The Galatians were roaring around the superspeedway until they came up on the lapped traffic driven by these false teachers. The Judaizers' counterfeit gospel was keeping them "from obeying the truth" (v7). The same thing happens to us.
We allow our little self-salvation projects to cut us off from the racing groove of obedience to Jesus. Let's face it, we all have our little personal legalisms that we think earns God's approval and keeps us saved.
Everything from church attendance to Bible reading to helping the underprivileged are good things on the surface. But they become idols if we think they earn us some sort of gold star on our salvation report card.
Remember, our best effort on our best day is no better than "a polluted garment" (ESV) or "filthy rags" (NIV). To be blunt, the translators have spared us from the raw meaning. Our righteous acts look like a bloody menstrual cloth in the eyes of God. Yeah, you read that right.
The truth of the true Gospel is the only way we're saved is when we trust the perfect and spotless righteousness of Jesus.
It's not about what we do. It's about what we've done.
Like a good crew chief, the Apostle Paul calls over the radio and reminds us that we've lost track of the real reason we're on the track. "This persuasion is not from Him who calls you" (v8). We're not to get distracted by such ridiculous things as trying to save ourselves.
There's something much more important at stake. Jesus has called us. "This persuasion" peddled by the Judaizers has stolen our focus from the amazing grace we have in Christ.
We must remember that Jesus has and is still calling each one of us. We must continue "looking at Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:2).
That's how we deal with lapped traffic.
©2012
Jay Jennings
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