September 16th

By Randall L. Broad

Read: Isaiah 22:1-24:23; Galatians 2:17-3:9; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 23:15-16

Today in our reading we confront one of the more difficult paraenesis to write about for several reasons. First the format of the One Year Bible breaks the passage at a point where it becomes impossible to understand one day without understanding the day before and the days that follow. Just as the people who inserted the verse numbers into the Bible often broke the narrative in odd places such as in the middle of ideas, sentences, and passages­–so did the developer of the One Year Bible Reading plan. This division is unavoidable in the longer passages such as this found in biblical narratives and important theological arguments like the one Paul is making in Galatians. The doctrine of justification is considered to be one of the most important contributions found in the Pauline Corpus and nowhere is more fully expounded on then in this epistle (vv. 3:2-6:10). The beginning of that passage is found in today’s reading, but first …

Yesterday we read:

¹¹When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

¹⁴When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

¹⁵“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:11-16

The understanding of today’s reading begins with the foundations Paul has already established in the beginning of the letter: the authority of his apostleship; the independence of his gospel; and the inclusion of the Gentiles in the church. Paul received his mission to the Gentiles and his apostolic authority not from men but from Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and his gospel message from the Holy Spirit; and it was by the power of the same Holy Spirit he established the churches in Galatia. He ministered in the Spirit and they believed through the Spirit, but now Jewish Christians have come to impose their customs and traditions on the churches believing the worship of Christ required adherence to the Torah and that the Gentiles be converted into “Christian Jews”. These men see Christianity as a new ‘religion’ that worships Christ but does it through Jewish practices.

Paul will have none of that … so to prove his point he addresses the hypocrisy of Cephas (vv. 11-12) and even his friend and brother Barnabas (v. 13). Paul saw in their actions the danger of dividing Christianity into two groups: the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Through the Spirit, Paul understood there could never be unity within a church if the members were divided–a church ceases to be Christian if it contains different classes of people. Thus Paul refuses to compromise even when it requires taking on the powerful (Cephas aka Peter) or his friend and brother (Barnabas) when they were in the wrong.

So today we read …

¹⁷“But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 2:17-21

This is a rich passage. Every sentence contains deep insight into the thoughts of Paul. Beginning in verse sixteen he strikes at the heart of the matter … a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. What is interesting to note is his use of the term “sinful” (v. 15) and “sinners” (v. 17) in his argument. Paul is not using the term as we understand it today as a moral deficiency or a human propensity to perform evil deeds, rather to the Jews of the time those terms simply referred to anyone who was not under Jewish Law–thus even the most righteous Gentiles were sinners, sinful, and everything they did inside or outside of the Law was a sin. Saul had lived under this Law as a Jew and a Pharisee. He had been one of its most devoted adherents and staunch defenders. It drove him to do everything he could to get right with God and then it led him to despair when he discovered it would never be enough. Yet in the moment Saul died on the Road to Damascus; Paul was given the breath of life by the grace of Jesus and the Spirit that taught him “the just live by faith”.    

From this experience Paul had come to understand Christ brought those under the law (the righteous) and those outside the law (the sinners) together into a New Covenant of Grace under which all were sinners and all were made “justified by their faith.”      

¹You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ³Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?  ⁴Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? ⁶So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁷Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. ⁸Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” ⁹So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Galatians 3:1-9

The early church fathers wrote more commentaries on Galatians than any other NT book; and it was also a favorite of Martin Luther the Protestant reformer. For Luther his ‘protests’ against the established order consisted of three key theological issues arising from the power of the church and the rise of scholasticism. The first issue was the scholastic idea of knowing God through general revelation and human reason; secondly, how salvation is received; and lastly Luther rejected the scholastic idea humanity helped God dispense salvation. These three main themes require more discussion than space here would allow, but notice how the means in which salvation is achieved is the central issue dependent upon how we know God and how we receive his salvation. Thus for Luther, like Paul, salvation was not about obedience to religious authority but rather a spiritual justification received by faith (vv. 3:2-6:10).

… And tomorrow we read.

¹⁰For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  ¹¹Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”  ¹²The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” ¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” ¹⁴He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Galatians 3:10-14

The mainstream view is that Galatians most important contribution is the central doctrine of justification by faith but two other important consideration are also at work in this book: the inclusion of the Gentiles in the promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 18:18) and the equally important matter of ‘life in the spirit’ reflected often in the Pauline epistles. Paul reminds the Galatians they began their walk with Christ in the Spirit and God works his miracles among them by that same Spirit … they know Jesus by the Spirit. And here in the part we will read tomorrow, Paul carries his argument even farther focusing more heavily than usual on the experience of the individual where by faith one receives the Spirit and that Spirit (freedom) and Torah (slavery) are incompatible with each other. In particular he rejects any religion–ancient or modern–that establishes an eternal destiny rooted in personal action, ritual, or established rules. Embracing an eternal destiny rooted in righteousness prompted and empowered by the indwelling presence and transforming work of the Holy Spirit, the power of the cross, and a Christ-centered life.

Walk with the Lord …

Ephesians 1:17

(RLB230916)

© Copyright 2019: Randall L. Broad

Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.