Malachi 2:6,7 - True instruction

2:6

This is in some ways a difficult verse to handle. It could be taken as referring to Moses, in which case it would have some meaning. Or it could be referring to an idealised picture of the Levitical priesthood and its purpose, which was to instruct the people in the ways of God. In doing so, it would certainly have taught life giving truth to many, and turned them away from sin. This would be in stark contrast to the current batch of priests.

2:7,8

We have here what a priest is meant to be like, and a similar description applies to all teachers and preachers today. We are there to preserve knowledge of God and His ways. We are meant to be the messengers of God. Our task is not to deliver our own words, but to deliver God’s words. And so when people come to listen to us they do so in order to hear the word of God, not the thoughts of men. But instead of being like this the priests had failed utterly, and many preachers today fail utterly. This happens when a preacher or teacher turns away from God to their own way. Oh, we need to watch ourselves most carefully. If we do fall away like this, then one of the consequences is that we cause others to fall as well. We have an awesome responsibility. And if do stop preaching God’s word then we have violated God’s covenant.

Galatians 6:14-18 - A new creation

6:14,15

Paul reiterates that the Law is summed up in the command to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18). It is interesting that Paul puts the emphasis on the second great commandment, not on the first (love God). Our attitudes towards each other are so important. The Judaisers were wanting to tie the Galatians up in the Law. Paul tells them that they need to get to the heart of the Law. If they continued down the Law line they would end up devouring each other. And there is much evidence from history of churches doing that. We are to serve one another, not bite and devour each other. In Christ we are a new creation, it is the recreative work of God in our lives that counts, not any rules that we may follow. But note also that God doing a recreative work in our lives implies that we will become ever more Christlike. There are no grounds whatsoever in the Bible for thinking that Christ’s forgiveness means we can do what we like and get away with it.

6:16-18

Paul now brings the letter to a close. He has spoken firmly about false teachers, and those who follow them. Here he declares a blessing upon those who walk in faith. Paul had suffered much for Christ (and would suffer more). The Galatians dalliance with Judaism ha caused him much grief (Gal 4:19), he asks that they do this no more. The letter finishes with a typical Pauline blessing, that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with their spirit.

Malachi 2:4,5 - A covenant of life and peace

2:4

The term “covenant with Levi” is used only here. Aaron and Moses are included in this, so it may just be a way of referring to the Mosaic covenant, of which the Levitical priests were meant to be ministers. The purpose of the judgement upon the priests was not to bring things to an end, but in order that the covenant would continue. This may have been something of a surprise to the priests, for if they were removed how could the covenant continue?  What they failed to realise, along with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and many religious people ever since, is that it is our hearts above all that God wants. He wants our hearts to be truly dedicated to Him, not just outward actions. Yet, time and time again we will focus on the outward actions, on religious ritual. We do this because it is easier to do, and we fool ourselves into thinking that we are pleasing God, when we are not.

2:5

God’s covenant was a covenant of life. Yet men rejected it. We see the same pattern all too often today. So called ministers of religion reject the deity of Christ, reject the resurrection, reject God’s moral teaching, reject anything they can find! In doing so they think they are being clever, or will make the church more acceptable to people. This is foolishness. God’s ways are actually ways of life. And God calls for reverence and awe on our part. Instead of deciding why God is wrong, we would do far better to worship Him. We should ask God to give us understanding, rather than imagining that we can improve God’s understanding!

Galatians 6:12,13 - Avoiding persecution

6:12

Paul then makes a direct attack on the Judaisers, calling them out for what they were. Those advocating circumcision were (i) trying to make a name for themselves; and (ii) trying to avoid persecution (by the Jews). This is so different from the way we treat opponents of the gospel today. We are far too willing to give them credit where none is due. A little more direct confrontation (verbal!) would be in order.

6:13

We have been called to freedom. The obvious danger is that we misuse this freedom, as is the case with all freedoms. We could use it as an excuse to sin without consequence (though we would quickly find that that is not the case, sin always has consequences, and the gospel does not change that). The opposite danger is that in rightly seeking to avoid that misuse of freedom we bind ourselves up with many rules, and churches or groups within churches have done that on many occasions throughout history. That does not work either. The freedom that God gives us is the freedom to live as we should live, to live for God and for each other, as the two greatest commandments say. So we take the focus of ourselves and here we are urged to serve one another.

Malachi 2:1-3 - I will send a curse on you!

2:1,2

God’s dealing with the people continues. The previous charges look as though they were primarily directed at the leaders, though everyone was effectively implicated. Here it is made clear that the priests are the target, and the priests are in big trouble. There primary responsibility is to honour God, but they were not doing so. There are many Christian leaders today who make the same mistake, and all of us need to watch ourselves. We can fail to honour God if we give more weight to the world’s “wisdom” than to the word of God. Consider what someone is doing if they do that. They are saying the world knows better than God, they are saying the Bible is not the word of God. We can also do this if we seek our own self-interest, whether that be seeking to make money, or seeking to receive the praise of men. If anyone persists in this line then their blessing will become a curse, God’s judgement will come upon them. Here it seems that the priests were far gone.

2:3

There is no beating about the bush here, no phrasing things in gentle language! First the disobedience of the priests would have serious effects on their offspring, their descendants. Then we get the stuff about dung being smeared on their faces. This is the dung from animals offered for sacrifice. The dung would, of course, be disposed of. Now the priests would be disposed of as well, for they had become worthless. If we do not honour God then we become worthless.

Galatians 6:9-11 - Let us do good to everyone

6:9,10

Now living by faith does not mean we just sit back and wait for the Spirit to do something! So Paul immediately urges them to continue doing good, not to weary in doing good. It can seem for a time as if it is not getting us anywhere, and in the context of this letter it can seem as if our old nature is still alive and kicking!  But Paul assures us that “at the proper time” we will reap a good harvest.

So we should take every opportunity to do good to one another. “Especially to those who belong to the family of believers”. Paul is not trying to change the church into a cosy club looking after itself. Rather, he is countering the back-biting that was at risk of arising in Galatia (Gal 5:15). Instead of seeking how we can get one over each other, we should put our efforts into seeing how we can help each other.

6:11

Paul now draws his letter to a close, and he wants to make sure that they know it was Paul who wrote this letter, or dictated it. There was a tendency for letters to be forged, and Paul wanted to guard against any accusations that the letter was not really from him. It also counts against those who claim other Pauline letters were written by others pretending to be Paul to add some sort of supposed authority to their letters. Forging letters were looked down upon in the church and they would not have allowed a pseudographic letter to get through.

Malachi 1:13,14 - Cursed is the cheat!

1:13

The priests regarded making offerings to the Lord a burden, a weariness. The offerings they brought were defiles because that had either been obtained by unjust means (by violence) or were imperfect (lame or sick animals). We too can view giving to the Lord a burden. A typical sign of this is people asking whether or not tithing should be based on net or gross income (after or before tax). The answer to this question is actually irrelevant, for when we ask this question it is indicative of a far deeper problem. It should be a joy to give to the Lord (2 Cor 9:7). We should rejoice in God involving us in His work. If we come with wrong attitudes, if we give with wrong attitudes, we should not expect the Lord to accept our offerings. I will give one caveat on this. There maybe times (in fact, almost certainly will be) sometimes when we find difficult, or we feel a tension within us. If in those times we make an act of will to give to the Lord despite these tensions, such offerings are good and will help change our feelings as well. Giving is a deeper act than our surface feelings.

1:14

Now things get really serious. The man who gives a lame animal when he has a perfectly healthy animal is cursed. Remember that a good working definition of curse is “God’s judgement on man’s sin”. To treat the Lord like this is to treat Him with contempt. And this is God whose name will be feared among the nations. We need to take a much longer view of things, to realise the foolishness of what we are doing if we start having a mean and stingy attitude towards giving.