Acts chapters 13-14, Paul wrote the Galatians from a place of deep passion and frustration. Christianity began as a Jewish Messianic movement in Jerusalem, but it’s message was for all humanity and it quickly spread beyond Israel. By Paul’s time as a missionary, there were as many non-Jews, as there were Jewish people in the Jesus movement and this sparked a huge debate. (Acts chapter 15) Historically, the covenant people of God were focused in one ethnic group, Israel, and they were set apart by there practices commanded in the Torah, like circumcision of males, eating kosher, observing the Sabbath, and there were many Jewish Christians who believed that for all of these non-Jews to truly become a part of God’s family, they needed to obey the laws of the Torah. So, some of these Jewish Christians ended up coming to the Galatian churches, they were undermining Paul, and demanding circumcision of all these male non-Jewish Christians and so, many of them were. When Paul found out, he was brokenhearted and angry.
Paul challenges the Galatians with his summary of the gospel message about the crucified Messiah, that this gospel is what creates the new multi-ethnic family of Jesus and Abraham, this gospel is what truly transforms people by the presence and power of the Spirit. Paul expressed his bewilderment, that the Galatians have embraced a different gospel, it is the one promoted by these Christians who bad-mouth Paul, and demand circumcision. Paul defends the authenticity of his message and authority as an apostle, he was commissioned by the risen Jesus himself, to go to the non-Jewish world. Paul says, it was only later, that he went to Jerusalem to consult the other apostles like Peter and James, and when he told them, he was not requiring non-Jewish Christians to be circumcised or eat kosher, they were in full support. But this tension ran deeper, Peter had come to Antioch to visit and see all of these non-Jewish Christians, and he was eating and mingling with them, but when some of these Jerusalem opposition groups showed up in Antioch, Peter caved under their pressure. Peter stopped eating with these uncircumcised Christians and he was avoiding them. Paul confronted and accused Peter of hypocrisy of not staying true to the gospel.
For Paul, demanding these new Christians to become circumcised and Torah observant, it was wrong-headed for all kinds of reasons, because it is a betrayal of the gospel, people are not justified by the works of the Torah, but rather by the faith of Jesus the Messiah and we have faith in the Messiah Jesus. To be justified, “to be declared righteous” it is when God declares that someone is in a right relationship with him, they are forgiven, they are given a place in God’s family, and they are being transformed by God’s grace. It is Paul’s conviction, that no one can be justified by observing the commands of the Torah, but only by the faith of Jesus, people are justified only through trusting in what God did for them through Jesus, not by what they do for themselves.
At the heart of Paul’s gospel is this claim, that when people trust in the Messiah Jesus, what is true of him, becomes true of them, his life and death and resurrection become theirs. Paul’s claim, I have been crucified with the Messiah, and it is not I who come back to life, it is the Messiah living in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. So, the reason anyone can say that they are right with God or belong to Jesus’ covenant family, it is not because they obey the laws of the Torah, it is only because of what Jesus did for them, that they could never do for themselves. Now, this profound understanding of what Jesus accomplished, it has huge implications for who can now be included in God’s covenant family and for what it means to live as a member of that family.
Paul turns to the stories about Abraham, how he was justified or declared righteous before God by simply having faith, by trusting in God’s promise, that one day all nations would find God’s blessing through him and his offspring. God’s purpose was always to have one large multi-ethnic family of people who relate to him on the basis of faith, not on the laws of the Torah. But that raises an important question, why did God give the laws of the Torah to Israel then? Paul observes that the laws of the Torah were given to Israel at Mount Sinai long after God’s promise to Abraham. God always intended the laws to be a temporary measure, the laws had both a negative and a positive role. Negatively, the laws acted like a magnifying glass on Israel’s sin, they exposed how Israel shared in the sinful human condition, constantly rebelling against God’s law and so, the law which is good, ended up pronouncing Israel guilty and all humanity with them. The laws imprisoned everyone under the power of sin. But the laws also had a positive role, they acted like a strict school teacher, that kept Israel in line until the coming of the promised offspring of Abraham, the Messiah and once the Messiah came, he fulfilled the purpose of the laws on Israel’s behalf.
Jesus was the faithful Israelite, who truly loved God and neighbor and as Israel’s King, he died to take the curse and consequence of Israel’s failure into himself and bring redemption. So now, through Jesus the offspring of Abraham, God’s blessing can come to all people, regardless of their ethnicity, social status, or gender. For Paul, requiring Torah observance from non-Jewish Christians, it is acting as if Jesus did not fulfill God’s promise or deal with our sins, it neglects the new freedom gained for us through Jesus and the gift of the Spirit, and it limits God’s promise and blessing to one ethnic family. But Paul’s opponents might argue, the laws of the Torah, they are a proven guide to living according to God’s will, how will non-Jewish Christians learn this? Paul describes how Jesus’ transforming presence through the Spirit is the key, the laws of the Torah are good, they are wise. In fact, they can all be summarized as Jesus did in the command to love your neighbor as yourself, but the laws, good as they are, they did not give Israel the power to obey them.
In contrast, the good news is that Jesus did fulfill the laws on our behalf and now, he lives in us through the Spirit, making his people into new humans who fulfill the law by loving others. Paul goes on to contrast this old and new humanity, the habits of the old humanity are obvious. These are behaviors that dehumanize people, they destroy relationships and whole communities, and while the laws of the Torah prohibited these behaviors, Jesus actually put them to death on the cross. So, when a person trusts in Jesus and lives in dependence on the Spirit, his life becomes theirs and produces what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit.” This is Jesus’ way of life that he wants to reproduce in his family, but this fruit is not automatic, it requires cultivation just like real fruit. If we live by the Spirit, we have to keep in step with the Spirit, this requires intentionality, we have to learn how to prune off our old habits and cultivate new ones and as we do so, we find ourselves carried along by the Spirit, as Jesus reshapes our minds and hearts and makes us into people who love God and others and in this way, Jesus’ people fulfill what Paul calls “the Torah of the Messiah.” In the end, this requirement for Christians to become Torah-observant or circumcised, it is an adventure in missing the point, what really matters is God’s new creation, this new multi-ethnic family of the Messiah, people full of faith in Jesus who are learning to love God and others in the power of the Spirit.
Paul challenges the Galatians with his summary of the gospel message about the crucified Messiah, that this gospel is what creates the new multi-ethnic family of Jesus and Abraham, this gospel is what truly transforms people by the presence and power of the Spirit. Paul expressed his bewilderment, that the Galatians have embraced a different gospel, it is the one promoted by these Christians who bad-mouth Paul, and demand circumcision. Paul defends the authenticity of his message and authority as an apostle, he was commissioned by the risen Jesus himself, to go to the non-Jewish world. Paul says, it was only later, that he went to Jerusalem to consult the other apostles like Peter and James, and when he told them, he was not requiring non-Jewish Christians to be circumcised or eat kosher, they were in full support. But this tension ran deeper, Peter had come to Antioch to visit and see all of these non-Jewish Christians, and he was eating and mingling with them, but when some of these Jerusalem opposition groups showed up in Antioch, Peter caved under their pressure. Peter stopped eating with these uncircumcised Christians and he was avoiding them. Paul confronted and accused Peter of hypocrisy of not staying true to the gospel.
For Paul, demanding these new Christians to become circumcised and Torah observant, it was wrong-headed for all kinds of reasons, because it is a betrayal of the gospel, people are not justified by the works of the Torah, but rather by the faith of Jesus the Messiah and we have faith in the Messiah Jesus. To be justified, “to be declared righteous” it is when God declares that someone is in a right relationship with him, they are forgiven, they are given a place in God’s family, and they are being transformed by God’s grace. It is Paul’s conviction, that no one can be justified by observing the commands of the Torah, but only by the faith of Jesus, people are justified only through trusting in what God did for them through Jesus, not by what they do for themselves.
At the heart of Paul’s gospel is this claim, that when people trust in the Messiah Jesus, what is true of him, becomes true of them, his life and death and resurrection become theirs. Paul’s claim, I have been crucified with the Messiah, and it is not I who come back to life, it is the Messiah living in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. So, the reason anyone can say that they are right with God or belong to Jesus’ covenant family, it is not because they obey the laws of the Torah, it is only because of what Jesus did for them, that they could never do for themselves. Now, this profound understanding of what Jesus accomplished, it has huge implications for who can now be included in God’s covenant family and for what it means to live as a member of that family.
Paul turns to the stories about Abraham, how he was justified or declared righteous before God by simply having faith, by trusting in God’s promise, that one day all nations would find God’s blessing through him and his offspring. God’s purpose was always to have one large multi-ethnic family of people who relate to him on the basis of faith, not on the laws of the Torah. But that raises an important question, why did God give the laws of the Torah to Israel then? Paul observes that the laws of the Torah were given to Israel at Mount Sinai long after God’s promise to Abraham. God always intended the laws to be a temporary measure, the laws had both a negative and a positive role. Negatively, the laws acted like a magnifying glass on Israel’s sin, they exposed how Israel shared in the sinful human condition, constantly rebelling against God’s law and so, the law which is good, ended up pronouncing Israel guilty and all humanity with them. The laws imprisoned everyone under the power of sin. But the laws also had a positive role, they acted like a strict school teacher, that kept Israel in line until the coming of the promised offspring of Abraham, the Messiah and once the Messiah came, he fulfilled the purpose of the laws on Israel’s behalf.
Jesus was the faithful Israelite, who truly loved God and neighbor and as Israel’s King, he died to take the curse and consequence of Israel’s failure into himself and bring redemption. So now, through Jesus the offspring of Abraham, God’s blessing can come to all people, regardless of their ethnicity, social status, or gender. For Paul, requiring Torah observance from non-Jewish Christians, it is acting as if Jesus did not fulfill God’s promise or deal with our sins, it neglects the new freedom gained for us through Jesus and the gift of the Spirit, and it limits God’s promise and blessing to one ethnic family. But Paul’s opponents might argue, the laws of the Torah, they are a proven guide to living according to God’s will, how will non-Jewish Christians learn this? Paul describes how Jesus’ transforming presence through the Spirit is the key, the laws of the Torah are good, they are wise. In fact, they can all be summarized as Jesus did in the command to love your neighbor as yourself, but the laws, good as they are, they did not give Israel the power to obey them.
In contrast, the good news is that Jesus did fulfill the laws on our behalf and now, he lives in us through the Spirit, making his people into new humans who fulfill the law by loving others. Paul goes on to contrast this old and new humanity, the habits of the old humanity are obvious. These are behaviors that dehumanize people, they destroy relationships and whole communities, and while the laws of the Torah prohibited these behaviors, Jesus actually put them to death on the cross. So, when a person trusts in Jesus and lives in dependence on the Spirit, his life becomes theirs and produces what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit.” This is Jesus’ way of life that he wants to reproduce in his family, but this fruit is not automatic, it requires cultivation just like real fruit. If we live by the Spirit, we have to keep in step with the Spirit, this requires intentionality, we have to learn how to prune off our old habits and cultivate new ones and as we do so, we find ourselves carried along by the Spirit, as Jesus reshapes our minds and hearts and makes us into people who love God and others and in this way, Jesus’ people fulfill what Paul calls “the Torah of the Messiah.” In the end, this requirement for Christians to become Torah-observant or circumcised, it is an adventure in missing the point, what really matters is God’s new creation, this new multi-ethnic family of the Messiah, people full of faith in Jesus who are learning to love God and others in the power of the Spirit.
