The Gift of the Spirit demonstrates beyond question who belongs to the Holy Covenant Community of Jesus, and who does not.
In the assemblies of Galatia, “false brethren” were preaching “another gospel,” pressuring Gentile believers to adopt circumcision and conform to other regulations of the Mosaic Law. Paul repudiated the very idea and sent the Galatians a series of arguments demonstrating why Gentiles need not be circumcised.
Continue readingThe jurisdiction of the Mosaic regulations over the covenant community reached its limit with the arrival of Jesus, the Seed of Abraham.
In responding to claims that Gentiles must be circumcised, Paul appealed to the common experience of the Spirit received by the Galatians. Did they receive the Gift through a “hearing of faith” or “from the works of the Law?” Having begun in the Spirit, why did they seek the “completion” of their faith based on “flesh” by submitting to circumcision?
Continue readingIn his letter to the Galatians, Paul addresses a growing danger. Certain “men from Jerusalem” claim that Gentiles must keep the deeds of the Mosaic Law to “complete” their faith, or at least, some of them. They are “compelling Gentiles to Judaize” by adopting circumcision, calendrical observances, and perhaps the Levitical dietary restrictions.
Paul would have none of it. Unlike his other letters, this time, his opening salutation was curt, and he immediately chastised the Galatians and launched into a diatribe against the Judaizing faction from Jerusalem.
Continue readingSYNOPSIS – The key dispute at Galatia was whether Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep some, at least, of the required deeds of the Torah.
The Letter to the Galatians is often read as a broadside by the Apostle Paul against “legalism,” the belief that right standing with God is “earned” through good works and human effort. This reading stems from the influence of Reformation theology, which tends to see Divine grace and human obedience in constant tension, if not inherently incompatible with each other.
Continue readingThe Law was an interim stage with a termination point. Christian believers are no longer “under the Law,” instead, they are “in Christ” – Galatians 4:1-7.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul points out that if Christians adopt the rite of circumcision, they will regress to that which is rudimentary, and to an earlier stage in Salvation History. The adoption of a Torah-compliant lifestyle means a return to a minority status and the reintroduction of social divisions.
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