The reading
Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29
3:1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was
before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is
this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing
what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now
ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was
for nothing. Well then, does God supply
you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the
law, or by your believing what you heard?
Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness," so, you see, those
who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that
God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to
Abraham, saying, "All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you." For this reason, those who believe are
blessed with Abraham who believed.
3:23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded
under the law until faith would be revealed.
Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we
might be justified by faith. But now
that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in
Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is
no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are
one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong
to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
The message
This is our second week looking at Paul’s letter to the
Galatians and to the whole church. In last week’s introduction, we looked at
the main point of this letter. It is really an extended presentation of Paul’s
view on the question “did a person need to convert to Judaism, keep the Old
Testament laws and rules or be circumcised in order to be a Christian”. It was
a question of who belonged in the kingdom of God. Could the kingdom of God be open
to all in a way it was never thought of before? This was the first major
division in the church. It was settled
and resettled multiple times (with Paul and others choosing to not adhere to
the decisions). There were people on both sides, groups of apostles and early
leaders who insisted that some or all of the Jewish traditions were necessary
before conversion to Christianity. After all, Jesus keeps the Jewish law and
teaches others to keep it (in more spiritual, authentic ways). The covenant God
makes with Abraham is supposed to be permanent, lasting generation to
generation forever. James, Peter and the
church in Jerusalem are the defenders of this view. There were others who
insisted no, God had done something new through Jesus, a new covenant so
important and complete, the old rules no longer applied. Paul is the one who is often entrusted to
express that belief that Jesus life, death and resurrection alone was enough.
He argued this point directly to non-jewish communities where the law and
circumcision are obstacles to hearing the comfort and joy of the Gospel. Paul
also argued this point to the leadership in Jerusalem. This was big, a shattering
change to the religious world and it needed to be supported with evidence,
argument and scripture. Today it would be like saying “we did not need to
baptize people or say the Lord’s prayer”.
Today, We are now at the heart of Paul’s argument that the
death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus is enough for the forgiveness of
sins and salvation of all people. Paul has moved on from discussion of
circumcision to the question of Abraham.
After all, when God made the covenant with Abraham,, it’s pretty clear “the
jewish people, Abraham and his descendants will be God’s people”. That covenant
with its identity, selection and obedience will be shown through circrucsicion
and the law. The word Gentile means
non-jewish people, the people Paul is preaching to, baptizing and welcoming
into the kingdom of God are literally not descendants of Abraham. How can they be included in the promises of
God. To answer this, Paul focuses on
what exactly Abraham did, why he was so important. After all, Abraham did not do miracles, Abraham
did not part the Red Sea like Moses and lead the people of Israel out of
slavery, Abraham did not do signs of great power like the prophets Elijah and
Elisha, Abraham did not heal the sick,
raise the dead or convert entire nations. What Abraham did was believe God’s
promises, God’s amazing word that your barren wife will bear a son, your
descendants will be as numerous as the stars, there is a land for you. Paul goes on to say that believing is what
makes children of Abraham. Abraham "believed
God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," so, you see, those who believe are the
descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify
the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying,
"All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you”. After
all, its Jesus who says Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are
descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create
children of Abraham from these very stones.
Paul’s letter to
the Galatains can be seen as a letter to everyone, to the leaders in Jerusalem
and around the known world. This is not
just debating some academic or intellectual point, this is bringing comfort and
assurance of God’s salvation to an anxious and confused community. This is an immediate pastoral care need. The new believers in Galatia who have heard
and understood and believed Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness
of sins and salvation of all people were under attack. People had come to the community, infiltrated
their ranks and taught them otherwise.
Paul starts this conversation (well conversation isn’t the
best word to describe this, more of a nasty one sided scolding). Paul writes You
foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you.
This word bewitched is a translation of the Greek word “Baskainw” which
means to “be bewitched, captured, tricked by black or dark magic. Here, it
could also be simply used to mean “deceived”.
Paul cannot understand how people who started in the true Gospel, the
good news salvation by faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, could now be
all over the place. How could they fall back into beliefs that Christ was not
enough, that Jesus only half saved them, that circumcision or other things were
also neccessary.
Personally, I find myself doing that a lot. I look at
Christianity today, the beliefs that many people hold, and I honestly think,
you fools, who has tricked or bewitched or deceived you into thinking that
Jesus was a feel good, self help guru, God loves a particular people or group
more than others, God rewards the rich and punishes the poor, the world is
ending next month, you can have Christians without a cross, a Christian
community based on fake news or whatever else there is out there.
Calling people who see things differently stupid or fools is
a common part of life today but its not
the lesson of this reading. It’s what
Paul does about it that inspires, teaches and corrects us. Paul proclaims
Christ in the face of these things. Insisting that Jesus is enough, pointing to
the cross and resurrection, pointing to God’s word, correcting the lies and
confronting those who spread them.
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