Galatians 5:1-15

Although there’s a lot of good material in today’s reading, I found myself hung up on this one verse: But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. (v. 11) As worded, that verse was very confusing to me. So I looked it up in the New Living Translation: Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. That’s more clear, but Paul’s “dashed offset” left me a bit confused. So I re-worded this NLT text: Some say I am preaching that you must be circumcised; if that’s true, then why are the faithful Jews still persecuting me? Because if I were not preaching Christ, I would be one with them and everything would be OK. Clear as a bell…!!

This whole circumcision issue… I think Paul nailed it with this one verse: I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. (v. 10) These Gentile Christians are being troubled by the Judaizers (Jewish believers) who are demanding that Gentiles be circumcised. Paul is confident that these Gentile converts will come back to him, the person who originally preached salvation to them and that the Judaizers themselves will be “punished”, however the Lord would choose to discipline them.

This entire issue of the Judaizers preaching circumcision calls to mind words from James’ epistle to which I have always hearkened: Let not many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. (James 3:1) This is my 12^th year leading RTB. During that time many folks from St. Andrew’s have looked to me (at some level) for Biblical leadership. I have known that all along and have always been careful not to venture too far into that with which I am unsure. I have often claimed “blessed ignorance” – that is, I just don’t know what some Scriptural passage means. So if I venture too far, please don’t be afraid to call me on it!!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 4:21-31

In verses 22-26 Paul “equates” Hagar (and Mt. Sinai and the Law) with the “present Jerusalem” (the Judaizers and the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem) and he “equates” Isaac (God’s promise to Abraham) with the “Jerusalem above” (those of the new Christian faith). It’s a good allegory, clearly designed to encourage his readers to not want to be under the Law but under faith in Christ instead. What intrigues me here is how Paul came up with this allegory. Did this understanding come directly from God when he was being tutored by the Holy Spirit in the Arabian desert? Or is this something that Paul came up with “on the fly” – as the Judaizers were bearing down on the new Gentile Christians in Antioch? Interesting…

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. (v. 23) I wonder how much we do “according to the flesh” when we fail to fully seek the Lord for His desires in our lives? There have been times in my life when His will for my future direction has been clear to me – and other times when I make decisions or simply plod along, not really knowing where He would have me. But if I make a wrong decision, I know it’s not over for me – God can redeem me from myself! Still better to be right (with God) the first time!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 4:12-20

It is often confusing to know what Paul means in his epistles, since he is writing letters to people and congregations and we don’t always know what occurred beforehand to which he is responding. For example, in the first two verses of today’s reading we have “Become as I am…”; “You did me no wrong”; then Paul’s mention of a “bodily ailment”; and finally and most confusing “that I preached the gospel to you at first”. So when Paul says “Become as I am…”, what does he mean? He is a Jew, but he does not want his Galatian converts to become like Jews. Why does Paul talk about the Galatians doing him wrong? And what is the bodily ailment? Is this the same “thorn in the flesh” that Paul talks about in II Corinthians 12:7? Or is this some speech impediment, as Paul seems to imply in some of his letters? (II Corinthians 11:6) And to that last item, what does Paul mean when he says “at first”? We know that Paul visited his Galatian coverts at least twice. So does “at first” refer to his first missionary journey? And if so, he must have written this letter after his second missionary journey and this letter would have been misplaced in our chronological study; otherwise he would have simply said “that I preached the gospel to you…”, with no time-determinant ending. I have no answers for any of those questions! Sorry…!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 4:1-11

…when we were children, [we] were enslaved to the elementary principles (i.e., rudimentary teachings (NASB), referred to as “weak and worthless” in verse 9) of the world. But…God sent forth His Son…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (vv. 4-5) To be born under the Law was to be born a slave to the Law – a slave who was committed to following all its precepts. But with Jesus’ redemption, those who had been slaves to the Law are now God’s adopted sons.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God… (v. 9) I loved Paul’s flipped terminology here – it is less that we have come to know God and more that we are known by Him! It is truly a marvelous thought – that we are known by God! One of our songs from church comes to mind, “He knows my name…”! GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 3:15-29

As with yesterday I see a key verse: For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. (v. 21) Essentially, the Law could not give life; realistically, it could only give death. See the next verse: But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (v. 22) Here’s how it reads in the New Living Translation: But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ. Again, salvation comes through faith in Jesus; works cannot make us righteous. Period.

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 3:1-14

Paul spends a lot of words to get to his one main point: Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith… (v. 5). He clearly lays out his argument – it is the Holy Spirit working miracles in and around them; the works of the law don’t get them anywhere! It is their “hearing by faith” that saves them, not the Law. He goes on to point out the weakness of the Law: “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law… (vv. 10b-11a). Later Paul will tell of the benefit of the Law, how it pointed us to our wrongdoings and the need for Jesus’ salvation. For now he is simply contrasting “hearing with faith” as better than “the works of the law”.

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 2:11-21

One of the all-time Christian memory verses, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (v. 20) This verse is so often quoted and more often alluded to, as in “You have been crucified with Christ…”! And it is a powerful verse. We who have accepted Jesus are no longer the same persons as in our former lives.

It’s unfortunate that verse 20 so quickly catches our eye that we can easily miss the next verse: I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. (v. 21) This verse is also a powerful verse, but so easily overlooked! Jesus dying needlessly…??!! Through all that suffering…??!! What a horrible thought!! That thought alone ought to propel us to grab onto the Gospel of grace – it’s not by our works that we are saved!! Folks, this verse is an evangelism tool. When someone says something like, “I think I’ll go to heaven; I’m basically a good person…”, then you can respond with “So Jesus wasted His time dying on the cross…?”

There’s more in today’s reading, but I’ll leave it at that!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 2:1-10

One quick comment – Paul will frustrate you with his parenthetical expressions (vv. 2, 4, 6, 8; occasionally comments set off by dashes instead of parentheses). These side comments can easily distract you from his main point in the rest of the sentence. So my advice to you is to jump over these parenthetical expressions and read the full sentence by itself; it will be much more clear. Then go back to what he has said in the parenthetical expressions – what he has said there is relevant and worthwhile. [BTW, different translations may or may not set those comments off by themselves. The ESV clearly sets them off.]

I was confused in verse 2, Paul talking about a trip to Jerusalem: I went up because of a revelation… I didn’t recall any revelation for Paul other than his initial encounter with Jesus and his time in the Arabian desert. So I went back to Acts 15. Verse 2 reports that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem…, followed immediately by the beginning of verse 3, So, being sent on their way by the church… So I imagine that the “revelation” that Paul mentions could have been a corporate Holy Spirit witness to Paul, Barnabas, and the Antioch leaders rather than a personal revelation to Paul.

In an earlier post about the Jerusalem Council, in the context of the much-debated circumcision issue, I had said that I imagined that Barnabas and Paul and the Jerusalem leaders had taken time to discuss this item among themselves. Paul’s parenthetical expression in verse 2 seems to confirm this: (though privately before those who seemed influential). A small item, but worthy of note.

It is troubling to see dissension being sown in this early church: Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in… (v. 4). In Acts 15:1 these “Judaizers” had come to Antioch, openly expressing (maybe demanding) their position: Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Theirs was a very different approach than the one mentioned in verse 4, “secretly brought in”. Troubling…

I guess I could go on and on, but enough is enough!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 1:11-24

Paul again defends his apostleship here, in three parts. First, …the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (vv. 11-12) Here Paul is claiming “divine revelation”, not human transmission. He follows up that first statement with a second: I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. (vv. 16-17) Again, he dismisses any human intervention. He makes special mention of “…apostles before me”, very subtly acknowledging his own apostleship. Finally, his third defense is easy to miss: But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (v. 19) Here Paul includes James among the “other apostles” – even though James was also not of the original twelve or the eleven-plus-one, Paul includes him as an apostle, the same claim he is making for himself.

Theologically, none of this is crucial – whether or not today we refer to Paul as an apostle. However, I think it gives us a window into Paul’s personality. I see him as quite defensive, maybe even a bit insecure – in spite of his own extreme confidence in who he is. It might help us to understand some of Paul’s later writings if we see where he is coming from.

Slava Bohu!

Galations 1:1-10

Epistles…! Here we are! We have arrived. We are more than halfway through Acts and only 1/6 of the way through the year. So the remaining ten months will be mostly readings from the Epistles. Letters from apostles to churches with a bit of history and a lot of theology! It’ll be a tougher grind for most of us – but that just means that we’ve got a lot to learn!!

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father… (v. 1). I can’t say how I know it or how many places I’ve read it, but it has long been in my mind that Paul often labored to defend his apostleship. He needed to exert his authority, since he was not one of the original twelve or of the eleven-plus-one. However, he considered himself fully an apostle, having received his gift of faith directly from Jesus as he was on his way to Damascus, then was further nurtured in the Lord through his three years in the Arabian desert. We will see this defense of his apostleship in more of his writings and in much greater detail in II Corinthians 10-13.

…but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (v. 7) Here is another continuing thread that we will see in Paul’s letters – false gospels! Somehow he gets word of some bad preaching and he needs to counter that teaching. Today we laud him for that, but back then it must have been a terrible burden for him and his teaching to be challenged by others. Unfortunately for him, he knew from where he had come – and he knew that others knew – and I doubt that he could ever forgive himself his past life. I’ve always felt sorry for him in this regard.

Slava Bohu!