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.
Continue readingThe death of Jesus signaled the commencement of the messianic age with consequent changes in the status of the Law and God’s people.
In his opening statement to the Galatians, Paul declared that his apostleship was from the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, the one who gave his life to “deliver us from this evil age.” This declaration anticipated his proposition that the arrival of the Messiah fundamentally changed the status and role of the Law for the covenant community – (Galatians 1:3-5).
Continue readingThe receipt of the Spirit while in an uncircumcised state is irrefutable proof that Gentile Christians are accepted by God AS GENTILES – Galatians 3:1-4.
In Galatians, Paul addressed a growing danger. Certain “men from Jerusalem” claimed that Gentiles must keep the deeds of the Mosaic Law to “complete” their faith, or at least, some of them. They were “compelling Gentiles to Judaize” by adopting circumcision, calendrical observances, and possibly, the dietary restrictions from Leviticus.
Continue readingAccording to Galatians, the jurisdiction of the Torah reached its termination point with the arrival of Jesus – The “seed” of Abraham.
In responding to claims that Gentiles must be circumcised, Paul appealed first to the common experience of the Spirit received by the Galatians. Did they receive the gift in response to a “hearing of faith” or “from the works of the Law?” Having begun in the Spirit, why did they now seek “to complete” their faith on the basis of “flesh,” in this case, by submitting to circumcision?
Continue readingTo pursue a Torah-observant lifestyle is to re-erect the old social barriers – Galatians 3:26-4:7.
The final paragraph of the third chapter of Galatians is pivotal to Paul’s larger argument, for it stresses the oneness of the people of God established by Jesus. In this new order, the old social divisions are inappropriate, especially now that the promised “seed of Abraham” has arrived. To now return to the regulations of the Law would erect the old social barriers.
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