The Christ Suicide: Galatians 2:11-21

I can’t get over this passage. It’s been a week since my last post and I’ve been struggling with this portion of scripture continually since then. There are times when the Word of God absolutely arrests you. You can be going along, minding your own business and you read a passage and it just smacks you upside the head. It knocks you over and makes you come face to face with a message so gut-wrenching, so intense that you cannot get up and continue down your previous path. You get up a changed man. You are changed by the Gospel.

That is why I love the Word of God. That is why I love this passage.

[Gal 2:11-14, 19-21 ESV]

[11] But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. [12] For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. [13] And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" ... [19] For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. [20] I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

(read the whole passage here)

Paul talks about his encounter with Peter (Cephas) in Antioch. Peter, a Jew, was living hypocritically. When other Jews weren’t around, he would live as a Gentile, but when Jews were present, he would live as Jew (and separated himself from the Gentiles that he had previously been hanging out with). Paul calls him out and asks him how he can mandate Gentiles to follow Jewish law when he, as a Jew, doesn’t even follow it.

How often do we hold others to a higher standard than we have for ourselves? How often are we so quick to ostracize someone because of their visible flaw when we ourselves are a jumble of invisible flaws?

NO ONE is justified by the works of the law—and yet we so easily find ourselves recounting the good things we have done and the righteous ways we have lived as if they make us more holy than simple justification by faith in Jesus Christ. It is here where we have some of our biggest hang-ups with the Gospel. We must acknowledge that we are only justified through faith in Jesus Christ, but yet we cannot loosen our grip on the importance we have placed on our works of the law.

Paul does a pretty good job of explaining this. When we are justified by Jesus Christ, we no longer rule our bodies, but it is Christ who lives within us. And we no longer live for the flesh, but we live our lives as unto God. It is because of Christ (and his love) dwelling inside of us and it is because we are living to God that we do good things.

We live uprightly because of Christ living inside of us, NOT Christ lives in us because we live uprightly.

That is the HUGE misunderstanding of justification by faith in Jesus Christ. I know a lot of people who are scared to death to think that we are saved by “faith”—and sometimes I think it’s a bit of a shakey ground to walk on. But when we truly have the faith in God—it will drive us to live as He desires us to live.

And when we sin, does that make Christ a sinner? NO! It merely reaffirms that we are human. I think God was pretty smart when he made the desires of the flesh. It is so easy to give into our flesh, to make a mistake, to sin. But that’s what reminds us of the beauty of Christ, the purity of Christ and the grace of Christ.

How much more wonderful is it to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ, than to try to be justified by following a code of conduct? When we misplace our emphasis from the grace of God to the works of the law we are robbing Christ of his Redemptive Act.

Why would Jesus come to earth, knowing that he would be beaten and stripped and hung on a cross, when we could just follow the law and be fine? Why would Jesus offer himself up as a sacrifice, if he was sacrificing for nothing?

Are we so bold as to allow for the culmination of Christ’s work to be degraded to an unnecessary suicide because of our pride for what we have accomplished?

Humbling.

Oh God, let me live in your grace and your justification. As you live through me, and as I live to You, let my actions be done out of love and out of proclamation of your sacrifice. Let me never become so full of myself that I would think that what I do can earn me a place in your Kingdom. But let me remember that what I do is a direct result of the redemptive work that you have done in me. That your death would constantly be heavy in my heart and at the forefront of my mind. That the new life you have given me be lived in the fullness of your grace and in the wonder of your love. You are my Savior, my only Savior.

So what about you? Have you struggled between the balance of faith and works? Have you struggled with accepting/rejecting someone because of who you perceive them to be?

Just trying to get it right,

Hermeneutical Dan

A Blessing Before the Beating: Galatians 1:1-5

So, I've decided to start with one of the Pauline Epistles. And instead of starting with a task so GIGANTIC as Romans or First or Second Corinthians, I've skipped to Galatians. I like the idea of working my way through an individual letter in order to understand fully the message that Paul was trying to convey. Now, I LOVE the writings of Paul (he's not my favorite biblical author--that would be Isaiah, but I wasn't about to try to conquer the whole of Isaiah right off the bat...I'm sure there will be some one-hit wonders from Isaiah dispersed throughout, we'll just have to wait and see...). I love that Paul is blunt, I love that he speaks with the authority of the Old Testament prophets, I love his absolute dedication to Truth and to Jesus Christ.

But this post isn't about Paul, so I'll move on.

Gal 1:1-5 ESV

[1] Paul, an apostle--not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead-- [2] and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: [3] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, [4] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, [5] to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul introduces himself. Check. Paul comments on Jesus Christ and God the Father. Check. Paul greets the churches. Check.

So we have ourselves the opening of a Pauline Epistle.

Let's look more closely. I love that Paul specifies that he is an apostle through Jesus Christ--not from men. In fact, as we will see throughout the rest of the chapter, Paul is deeply concerned about differentiating between man's gospel and God's gospel, man's approval and God's approval, so it makes sense that he acknowledges that his calling is not man's calling but God's calling. He knows how men and their man-made messages have been leading the churches of Galatia astray (more on that later) and so he wants to set himself apart from them by establishing himself as one who proclaims unadulterated truth. But he doesn't dwell on this for now, he states it and moves on--and so will I.

Paul then addresses the churches of Galatia with a prayer of blessing. Grace and peace to you from God. Amen. He prays that God will extend grace and peace to them. Paul knows that he is about to chatise them for a good six chapters, but first he stops to pray a blessing on them. He knows the way that this fragile humanity works. He knows that when beating is not accompanied by blessing then it only serves to destroy. And he isn't interested in pure demolition--even though he may have to tear the building down to it's foundation, he's really interested in building. He's trying to do it with the same tenderness that Jesus displayed on many an occasion.

Remember when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus demanding that she be stoned? Jesus told them that whoever was without sin could cast the first stone. And then he doodled in the dirt. When everyone had wandered their own ways (in disgust, no doubt), Jesus looked up and blessed her--He said "Neither do I condemn you." Great! She's good to go! WooHoo! What a blessing! Not quite. Because He then says, "Go and sin no more." In that one sentence, He says so much. He acknowledges her wrongdoing. He sets her free from her past. And He commands her to sin no more. But the blessing made the beating bearable. Because she wasn't condemned to death, she had the opportunity to change her life. Can you imagine the weight of what Jesus said? I mean, He gave her grace and truth in the same breath. He wiped her past away and yet made her come face-to-face with it at the same time.

And that's kind of what Paul is doing at the beginning of Galatians. He is praying a blessing over them before he begins to make them confront their humanity. (Interesting note: he sandwiches the "negative" between two "positives"--one blessing in the greeting and one in the closing. I had a professor in college who taught that this was the way that, if we should have to say something "negative" to someone, we should give critique: sandwiched between two positive comments.) It is far easier to take criticism/chatisement from someone who you know cares for you than from someone who merely claims that they do. Paul is so deeply attached to the churches to whom he writes that it affects him physically (see Gal. 6:17) and this is his attempt to let them see that--he just wants them to know the passion with which he is writing this letter.

I've had two different types of leaders in my life. Both have, on occasion, needed to reprimand me. I am only going to dwell on one and let you imagine the other. This leader is my mentor. He has never asked to mentor me, and I have never asked to be his mentor. It just happened. I have never felt so cared for by a spiritual leader than I have by my Mentor. Whenever we talk, regardless of what complaining I do, or what frustrations I cause him, he always takes time to bless me. I had never thought about blessing others before he began blessing me. But it was so perpendicular to what I was used to that I immediately took notice of it when he prayed a blessing over me. Now, there have been many times when he needed to reprimand me--he even came close to yelling at me once. But I am constantly so aware of how much he cares about me that I don't mind the chastising. You see, when he was growing up, he was never blessed. In fact, it was quite near the opposite. And he had a hard time growing spiritually because of this. He never wanted that to be the case for anyone else--if he could help it. And I must say, he's doing a pretty swell job. He's grasped the godliness in tearing down and in building up. Because of that I have been affected in ways that I cannot fully understand--and for that, I am grateful.

So what about you? When you need to be corrected, is it accompanied with a blessing? Do you salt your critiques with blessings?

Just trying to get it right,

Hermeneutical Dan