Made Complete by the Spirit
In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul addressed a growing danger. Certain “men from Jerusalem” were claiming 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 perhaps the Levitical dietary restrictions. Paul would have none of it.
Unlike his other letters, his opening
salutation to the Assembly in Galatia was curt, and he immediately chastised
the Galatians and launched into a diatribe against the Judaizing faction from
Jerusalem.
[Wind - Photo by Thiébaud Faix on Unsplash] |
Moreover, he admonished the congregation NOT to accept any alleged gospel if it deviated from the one Paul previously had delivered to them. Already, the Galatian believers were “moving away from him that called them in the grace of Christ” by adopting circumcision as a requirement for membership in the covenant community.
As for the Judaizers “from Jerusalem,”
twice Paul pronounced a “curse” or anathema on anyone who
proclaimed a “different gospel,” even if this was done by “an angel
from heaven.” - (Galatians 1:6-8).
The Apostle Paul received his gospel by
direct revelation from Jesus, NOT from any human authority or angelic
visitation. The leading apostles in Jerusalem accepted his Torah-free
gospel for the Gentiles, requiring only that his congregations contribute to
the relief of poor believers in Jerusalem - (Galatians 1:5-2:10).
Paul described an incident that occurred in
Antioch when a group of Jewish believers from Jerusalem pressured Peter,
Barnabas, and other Jewish believers to withdraw from table fellowship with
uncircumcised Gentile believers - (Galatians 2:11-14).
In the second chapter of Galatians,
he presents the key proposition of the Letter; namely, that a man is “not
set right (before God) based on the deeds of Torah, but through the faith of Christ Jesus.”
Having come to faith in Jesus, Paul “died to the Law” and was “crucified
with Christ” so that he now “lives unto God.”
To rebuild a Torah-observant
lifestyle after encountering Jesus was tantamount to declaring that he “died
in vain,” and to regress to life under the regulations of the Torah was
to “set aside the grace of God” - (Galatians 2:15-21).
GIFT OF THE SPIRIT
Next, Paul presented his first argument in
support of his Torah-free gospel, the experience of having received the Gift
of the Spirit:
- (Galatians 3:1-5) - “O thoughtless Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth as a crucified one? This only do I wish to learn from you: from the works of the law did you receive the Spirit, or from a report of faith? Are you so thoughtless? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now to be completed in the flesh?... He, then, who was supplying the Spirit to you and energizing mighty works among you, did he do it from the works of the law or from a report of Faith?”
They received the Spirit while in an
uncircumcised state, and therefore, without the deeds and rituals required
by the Law. That experience resulted from their response in faith to the
gospel preached by the Apostle.
The activity of the Spirit among the Galatians demonstrated that God had accepted Gentile believers as true members of His covenant people without circumcision even though circumcision was a basic requirement of the Mosaic Law.
Earlier, Peter made a similar argument in response
to Jewish critics of his table fellowship with uncircumcised Gentiles. Upon
seeing the Spirit fall on his Gentile audience in Caesarea, he declared:
- “Surely no man can forbid that these should not be baptized, seeing they have received the Holy Spirit just we… if the same free-gift God gave to them just as to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that could withstand God?” - (Acts 10:47, 11:17).
The granting of the Spirit to Gentiles was irrefutable evidence that God had
accepted them even in their uncircumcised state. Having received the
Spirit from faith, to add Torah-keeping to “complete” it meant
resorting to “the flesh,” and “no flesh shall be declared righteous from
the works of the Law.”
To get circumcised and “observe days,
months, seasons, and years” meant returning to bondage under the “weak
and beggarly elemental spirits,” and to an immature and far less
enlightened state - (Galatians 4:7-11)!
[Photo by Wojciech Portnicki on Unsplash] |
WITHOUT CIRCUMCISION
Just as Abraham received the promise without
circumcision before the Torah was even given, so those in
Christ receive “the blessing of Abraham… the promise of the Spirit through
the faith.” Moreover, anyone who is “led by the Spirit is not under the
law” - (Galatians 3:6-14, 5:18).
Believers who abandon the gospel by embracing
a Torah-observant lifestyle could find themselves “severed from
Christ… fallen from grace.” Since Jesus inaugurated the age of the Spirit, the
Levitical rites including circumcision were no longer “of any avail.”
Their time and function came to an end with the arrival of the “heir,”
Jesus.
What matters is “faith working through
love.” The believers in Galatia began “to run well but were hindered
from obeying the truth.” They were “bewitched” by the false gospel
proclaimed by the “men from Jerusalem” - (Galatians 5:1-7).
To adopt a Torah-observant
lifestyle is to come “under the Law” - its jurisdiction and obligations.
Anyone under it is obligated to keep the WHOLE law, and failure to do so
places one under its “curse.” If the Galatians get circumcised, they
will be obliged to keep ALL its regulations, commandments, and rituals.
Thus, having received the fullness of the
Spirit, the saints in Galatia were contemplating abandoning the gospel of grace
proclaimed by Paul, whether they understood this or not.
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