Torah

Limits of the Law

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

The 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?

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One in Christ Jesus

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

In Galatians, the Apostle Paul compares the Mosaic Law to a “pedagogue” in its supervision of Israel “until the seed came.” That “seed” was Jesus. In Greco-Roman society, the “pedagogue” was usually a slave with custodial and disciplinary authority over an underage child until he reached maturity. The minority status of the child and the authority of the custodian over him were both temporary.

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Even an Angel

/ David R Maas / 1 Comment

After a curt introduction, Paul begins his letter to the Galatians with a stern warning. What some members are contemplating amounts to replacing Jesus with a false messiah and a counterfeit gospel. To turn from the “faith of Jesus Christ” to circumcision and other “works of the law” as the basis of the faith is apostasy. Thus, the sternness of his language.

The Apostle to the Gentiles launched into a rebuke with words expressing his astonishment that the Galatians had departed so quickly from the gospel, one that included an ominous curse formula.

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Having Begun in the Spirit

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

In 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.

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WEAK AND BEGGARLY RUDIMENTS

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

The new Messianic Age has dawned in Jesus, therefore calendrical rituals and other Levitical regulations belong to the old and now obsolete order.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul chided Christians for their desire “to return to bondage under the weak and beggarly rudiments” of the world, including calendrical observations. Since believers now live in the era of fulfillment, resorting to outmoded rituals is inappropriate and constitutes regression to a state of slavery.

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