GENTILE OR JEW? - Galatians pt. I

Galatians 2:15-16,19-21
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We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;  yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.  And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.....

Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

(Continuing with our chronological look into Paul’s letters – specifically the first seven letters, which are fairly universally accepted to have been actually written by Paul himself – we arrive today at Galatians.  It appears to be something of a toss-up in scholastic circles between Galatians and First Corinthians as to which is truly the second letter, since they were  written at close to the same time -- but Galatians has a slight advantage – so we’ll go with Galatians.

Like First Thessalonians, Galatians is a short letter – only six “chapters” in length, but if Thessalonians was an “innocent” letter, full of love and happy memories, Galatians is anything but.  Paul starts this letter angry and he ends it just as angry.  But along the way we will be introduced to some of the great theological concepts developed here by Paul, ones that will be fleshed out more thoroughly later in the Letter to the Romans – concepts that would shape the following two-thousand years of “Christianity,” possibly even more than the words of Jesus himself ..... (unfortunately, I believe.)

First, let’s locate ourselves in Galatia, which lies on the Anatolian Peninsula – roughly the modern-day country of Turkey – and pretty much covers the central part.  This letter is distinct from Paul’s other letters in that it specifically addresses the “churches” of Galatia, rather than any one particular community or city.
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Paul is enraged – he is not just mildly annoyed – he is furious.  He begins with a token blessing, but omits any personal greeting mentioning his love and affection for the Galatians.  He doesn’t appear to be feeling highly affectionate toward them.  Instead, he jumps right into the heart of the matter:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.   But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!   As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!  (Gal. 1:1-9)

We’ve spoken before about Paul’s letter writing being so often occasioned by him having to continually fight the enemies behind him – those who came along after he planted a community and moved on – came along and started teaching the new converts that everything Paul had taught was wrong – doing their best to undo all Paul’s work.  This letter to the various Galatian communities is a prime example of this.

Remember, the new believers in these communities had come largely from the ranks of the “God-lovers,” Gentiles exposed to and involved in Judaism to some extent -- but still on the fringes, never having become full converts.  They were still Gentiles, but they were often fairly knowledgeable in things like Jewish history and teaching and so, were vulnerable when the you-must-be-fully-Jewish-in-order-to-be-Christian crowd came along to undo Paul’s teaching.
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Paul has already been fighting this same battle for a long while.  He has been to Jerusalem and received their support to convert Gentiles without demanding they become circumcised fully observant Jews first.  He has gone head-to-head with Peter himself, challenging Peter as a hypocrite for seeming to waffle on his stance on including Gentiles.  He has faced them all down and made it clear that he will continue to teach and preach his open-enrollment Jesus-faith.
Paul is absolutely clear in his own mind that he is right.

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin;  for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

​You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it.  I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.  But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased  to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being,  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. (1:11-17)

He then continues to remind the Galatians that after his revelation came from Jesus himself, he still spent three years building his teaching before he ever met Peter, and then another fourteen years before he made his journey to Jerusalem to present his case before the church elders there – before he was given their imprimatur to continue with his teaching.

He has no intention of backing down and no intention of allowing some self-appointed protectors of Jewish Law to come along behind him and undo all his work in the Lord.
It is “the Law,” pf course, which lies at the heart of this dispute.  For generations it was adherence to that Law which saved the Jewish people, but the Law could never truly save them so Jesus was sent.  With the coming of Jesus we are saved by God, through Jesus.
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Remember, Paul is an expert on the Law.  He knows the Law.  But he also knows human limitations and that Law alone cannot save us from ourselves.  Without the saving grace of Jesus, the Law is only head knowledge.  The Law is good, but incomplete.

Jesus is our completion.  This is the unwavering core of Paul’s belief – Jesus, and not the Law.  Jesus, in Paul’s theology, takes us directly to the place toward which the Law can only point us.  On this, Paul will not waver nor will he back down.  Paul had brought he Galatians the truth and they have allowed themselves to be pulled backwards into a dead end belief.  After a glorious beginning, they have allowed the Judaizers to strip them of their truth.  And Paul is not happy about it.
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Next week we will hear Paul re-educating them and we’ll be introduced to those “big words” and big concepts that lie at the heart of much of our Christianity today.  Again, I recommend you read the whole letter for next Sunday – as I said, it’s short.