Galatians Chapter 5
Tuesday August 19, 2008
Galatians Chapter 5:2-15 Christian Freedom
The fledgling
Gentile Christians of the Galatian churches are conflicted. After Paul had
finished his initial mission in the Roman province of Galatia in north central
Asia Minor he moved on to Macedonia. He delegated the responsibility for
widening the evangelistic mission to trusted co-workers. Shortly after his
departure Jewish Christian evangelists arrived in Galatia with a different
understanding of what it meant to be a Christian. In keeping with the
conservatism of the Jerusalem leadership, especially James, these evangelists
were able to convince the Galatians that Paul's idea of freedom in Christ with
respect to traditional Jewish practices of the Law of Moses was wrong. Not only
was it wrong it was misleading, for to abandon such practices was against God's
will. In effect, to be an acceptable Christian required the Gentile convert to
become an acceptable Jew. When Paul received news of this
"deconstruction" of his work he was devastated and angry. In his
letter he lays out how wrong the Jewish evangelists are. Using the same biblical
references his adversaries would have used, he walked the Galatians through the
meaning of God's covenant with Abraham including a powerful depiction of the
difference between the inheritance of freedom in Christ through Sarah and
continued slavery under the law through Hagar. Paul places before the Galatians
a defining question: "How can you who were once enslaved by the
worship of idols so quickly turn back again to another 'yoke of slavery'
to the same beggarly spirits by placing yourselves under the yoke
of the Law of Moses?
In this first
passage Paul gives a clear and persuasive image to the Galatians of what their
choice means. If they follow the mandate of this "new gospel" by
being circumcised they will have lost all spiritual gain. All freedom received
through faith in Christ will be lost for such an action puts a person under the
law requiring obedience to the entire law. Christ will become a mere cipher in
whatever this new gospel promotes as Christian life. Paul draws a dividing line
in the sand. Those who wish to be under the law expecting the law to bring
justification have crossed the line and have cut themselves off from Christ.
They have "fallen away from grace." In Christ circumcision is
meaningless and has no benefit one way or another. "The only thing
that counts," Paul writes, "is faith 'made effective' through
love."
We would do well to
meditate on this last phrase about the singularly important joining of faith
and love. In 1 Cor. 13 Paul
wrote that there is faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love.
Here Paul clarifies under what circumstances love is so
important. Rather than some abstract cerebral notion of love as a virtue
to be emulated through an act of reasoning, love is an instinctual product of a
transforming faith. It is the dynamic component of faith at work in the world.
Paul would not understand any defining of faith as simply something we have as
if it were a possession or an inner gift we might share. Faith is at work,
he writes, and its work is accomplished through love - agape, the recognition
of the other in the world and the passion to work for the best for the other.
The old argument of faith versus works is a red herring for the Christian. The
only thing that counts is not just faith it is faith working, demonstrating
itself through love.
Paul pauses to
consider the progress the Galatians had made while he was among them.
They were "running so well" in obeying the truth of faith in Christ.
It is difficult for him to understand how they could have been persuaded
otherwise. It certainly did not come from God who is the ultimate author
of their freedom in Christ. But a little corrupting leaven has been set loose
among them and it is growing. He is confident (but not very convincingly so)
they will recognize this corruption for what it is and he assures them
whoever these corrupters are they "will pay the penalty."
Vs. 11 strikes us as odd. Paul seems to
indicate he is being persecuted because he is stillpreaching circumcision. That certainly contradicts everything
we have read so far in his letters. What he has written of is the
deceit these enemies have used and will use to destroy his credibility. It
is likely those who have created the upheaval among the Galatians and turned
them (or some of them) against Paul are claiming he does preach circumcision to
others but has chosen not to do so among them in order to placate their Gentile
rejection of such an idea. He was "getting in their good graces." To
do such a thing, he writes, would negate the power of the cross as an offense
to those who want to keep walls of separation and identification such as
circumcision. He certainly was being persecuted for what he preached but what
he preached to both Jews and Gentiles was freedom from the law and that includes
freedom from circumcision. In a rather crude outburst of anger he wishes these
interlopers who think circumcision is so important would go beyond that
and castrate themselves.
Paul turns from his
condemnation of those who would bring the Galatians under the yoke of the law.
Emphasizing the freedom to which they were called in Christ, he admonishes them
against thinking that this freedom is a license for self-centeredness. Rather,
as he has already written, faith expresses itself through love. Far from being
a chance to feed self interest, the freedom they have been given is an
opportunity through love to become servants of one another and to live the
words of the proverbial adage, "love your neighbor as yourself," for
that is the summation of the entire law in one commandment. Without such a love
for one another they could be reduced to mutual self-destruction. This is not
freedom, it is chaos.
Galatians Chapter 5:16-26 Works of the Flesh versus Fruit
of the Spirit
The life of the
Christian is grounded in "faith working through love." Our faith
is expressed in our relationships with one another as well as with the wider
world of the neighbor. Love is expressed in concrete acts toward others and not
just in hopeful feelings. Paul envisions two opposing ways to
"walk" in life. One is according to the flesh and the other is
according to the Spirit. Reading the catalog of each "walk" paints a
clear enough picture of both. In general we might conclude that the works of
the flesh as a way of life is self-centered, involving the pursuit of
pleasure and relationships that are based upon notions of
superior/inferior classifications in which others are valued according to their
practical utility. Such people, Paul writes, "will not inherit the Kingdom
of God.
On the other hand
those who walk or live in the Spirit exhibit the fruit of the Spirit
in all aspects of life. His list reflects many of Jesus' instructions to his
disciples as well as those of the prophets of Israel. There is no law against
such a life. Those who strive to live in the spirit, though doing so
imperfectly, have practiced the discipline of being the new person in Christ
Paul has claimed we could become: Spirit filled and Spirit guided, living
out faith in love.
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