Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The second point about the death of Christ in 4 is the effect it produces in those
that put their trust in Him. They are 'delivered from this present evil world'. The word of
the cross is the power that leads men into the liberty of the gospel, and that in two ways,
negatively and positively. In the negative sense, it effects a separation from the world. It
is necessary for us to see that being a Christian involves a definite stand on this matter.
For us the alternatives are: Christ or the world, and the issue is clear-cut. As disciples of
Christ we are in the world, but not of it. Indeed, the Christian calling is to 'other-worldliness'. We are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. To use J.B. Phillips' words in his preface to 'Letters to Young Churches', we must train ourselves 'not to be 'taken in' by this
world, not to give our hearts to it, not to conform to its values, but to remember constantly that we are only temporary residents and that our rights of citizenship are in the
unseen world of Reality.'
But this is never to be understood as a kind of escapism. The fact is, as one notable
scholar once pointed out, the Church has never so dominated the world as when it has
taken nothing to do with the world. Not only so: 'out of this world' means for the Christian out of its limitations and restrictions. To be delivered from this present evil world is
to be set free, to be rescued from the 'parochialism' of this world, and brought into truly
heroic, adventurous living. This is the paradox of the Christian gospel: the cross - symbol
of suffering, death and negation - sets men free into glorious liberty, into largeness and
breadth of vision. In the Christian life, we die to Live!