The Galatians did not deny Christ; they only wanted to add something to Christ. Their idea was Christ and circumcision. But to add anything to Christ is to deny His completeness and to exalt self. Men will undergo painful self-sacrifices sooner than acknowledge that they are utterly helpless and worthless. A man will gladly be even a fakir, if only it is self that does it, so that self may share the glory. And a religion of bondage always exalts self. It is what I do—my efforts, my wrestlings, my faithfulness. But a religion of liberty leaves self nothing to glory in; it is all Christ, and what He does, and what He is, and how wonderfully He saves. The child does not boast of itself, but of its father and mother; and our "souls make their boast in the Lord," and "the humble hear thereof and are glad."

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