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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

galatians 2:19-21 (The Message)

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

galatians two (part two)

Forgiven by Greg Olson

If you're just joining us, drop down and begin with the "galatians one" post...it will all make more sense...

First a few key words from Galatians: justification and faith. In the six verses between 2:15 and 2:21 these words come up four times each.

Justification: is a legal metaphor meaning literally to be absolved of a crime/sin; to free from guilt or blame or the legal consequences of that crime; to grant a pardon. But the best word (in my opinion) that comes us is a synonym for "absolve"..."exonerate," which means to consider a person clear of blame or consequence--even for an act that is admitted, confessed. In the context of Galatians, justification is also closely connected to the idea of gaining God's approval.

Faith: here's two definitions. The first from Scot McKnight who wrote The NIV Application Commentary and the second from a classic commentary written by William Barclay:

Faith is "the initial and continual response of trust in, and obedience to, Christ by a person for the purpose of acceptance with God."
Faith is "complete trust and complete surrender to Jesus Christ; total acceptance of all that He said, all that he offered, and all that He is."

These definitions are helpful in understanding what Paul means when he writes in Galatians 2:15-16...

"We know that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."

This make sense to me now...how can a person be justified (absolved or exonerated as described above) of their sin by the Law if the whole intent of the law is to bring about judgement and guilt so that we will know when we have sinned?! They can't!

Instead, Paul says, and my experience rings true: we gain God's approval and find freedom from the shame and eternal consequences of our sin when we continually respond with "trust in and obedience to Christ." Our "complete trust and surrender" to what God has promised in Jesus exonerates us. That is, though we admit and confess that we have sinned and are "guilty as charged" we are freed from the shame and the eternal consequences of that sin. Through Jesus' sin-less life, his undeserved death, and his victorious resurrection God promises a mysterious and life-altering path towards salvation and freedom. Our faith is our acceptance of that path, expressed by our trust/surrender to Jesus and our obedience to his teachings and leadership through His Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that whoever has been forgiven much, loves much...and the only way to be forgiven much is to have come to the full recognition that you have sinned much:) Which leaves no room for mystery as to why this discovery of faith in Jesus has been such absolutely-wonderously GOOD and life-altering news for me.

galatians two (part one)

Picking up where we left off last week...Paul is livid because the Galatians have abandoned what they first learn and embraced a new and different gospel ("which is really no gospel at all"). This new gospel puts it's faith, trust, hope, and worship in the Law of Moses. In Galatians 2:15-21, Paul will defend the gospel of Jesus.

We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over "non-Jewish sinners." We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

The word "gospel" really means "good news." So, I've got to ask you, "Is it really good news that keeping a set of 613 rules is going to 'set you free' and create hope and joy and purpose for life? Will this really free you from shame and the eternal consequences of sin?"

There IS NO WAY! The purpose of the Law was never to bring salvation or freedom from guilt/shame. The value of having a Law is so that you know when you've sinned...the law's intent is to bring a healthy sense of guilt once in a while to keep us in line. Paul says in Romans 7, "I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law...the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good...in order that sin might be recognized as sin..." (vs. 7, 12,13). The whole value of having rules/laws is so that we know when we have broken them (sinned).

The opposite is a complete and utter lack of awareness: ignorance. We've all had the experience of being insulted and offended by someone who seems completely unaware of the hurt they are causing. They go through their day, trying to be funny, leaving a wake of anger, insecurities, and damaged relationships. But they are unaware and free from guilt. Taking this to the extreme...when someone in our society commits a violent crime, like rape or murder, without remorse, we label them a psychopath because our society believes that all people should be aware of a law and feel remorse and regret when they break it. Paul says the law is "good" because it protects us from thoughtlessly and ignorantly going throughout life creating destruction and heartache for ourselves and everyone around us.

The Law is good, but it only brings us half way...to the point of guilt and remorse. That may be good, in a way, but it's certainly not "GOOD NEWS" (Gospel). So, what is?

Paul suggests that what makes the GOSPEL such good news is that Jesus can bring us the rest of the way, past the guilt and shame into something much more redemptive: salvation and the approval of God.

So, how do we access the approval of God, you ask? Keep reading...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

galatians one

We began a series on the book of Galatians today by understanding a little of what was going on in Galatia when Paul wrote this letter. Why does Paul seem so fired up and emotional? Why does he skip right over his usual affirmations and compliments and jab them with "astonished" criticism?

A large part of it, we discovered, had to do with a group of people stirring up trouble. They were referred to as Judaizers. They were Jewish Christians, with an emphasis on JEWISH and they held strongly to the belief that the rites and ceremonial practices of the Mosaic Law were still binding on the New Testament Church. Their biggest concerns had to do with circumcision, not fraternizing with "Gentile sinners," and kosher living. They were frustrated by Paul's approach to evangelism and ministry because it seemed to possess loose morals and too much religious freedom.

They were legalistic in the fullest sense of the word. When we think of legalism we think of people who hold tightly to a set of rules, perhaps dogmatically, and we are right, but these folks took that to another level. They believed that the Mosaic Law was their hope of salvation and their means of earning God's approval. Their "rightness" (justification) before God hinged on their ability to stick to the 613 laws that made up the Mosaic Law (Law of Moses). So, their legalism wasn't just a love for rules, it became their god...they put their trust and hope in it. Consequently they gave Jesus' role and the Holy Spirit's role much less importance. While they believed in Jesus and the Spirit to some degree, their real allegiance and worship belonged to the Law and their ability to keep it, while placing judgement on those who did not.

You can imagine what a "life of the party" they were!

Paul's livid and says impassioned things like, they are "throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." He accused the Galatians of "deserting the One who called you" and "turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all" (1:6-7). He even goes so far as to say that "if anyone is preaching to you something different than what we first preached to you, let that person be cursed by God!"