Galatians 5 the presence of The Holy Spirit

In Chapter 4 Paul explains about how people by being under the law are in a manner being slaves and tied to the laws of Israel.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Paul once again is speaking to people who are torn between custom, tradition, ritual and obedience to the Law as they have known it.

There is a sense of fear by these new followers of Jesus, what if they offend God by not following through with a tradition that has been part of their lives forever.

Paul explains that it is not the law that matters, it is the fact that one lives in the presence of Faith through God's grace, his eternal love that is more powerful than a ritual.

Starting in Verse 13 Paul begins to speak on one of the most important aspects of living in the presence of Jesus.  He talks of how we are to live through the Spirit and not by the Flest aka the ways of the world.

Verses 13 and 14 give the example of how we are to live.

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b 

Paul then gives us a list we should memorize, this list illustrates what we should not do.  The list is very interesting if you take the time to read it and consider it,  I will come back to this after listing The Acts of the Flesh.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; C19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.orgies, and the like.

If we pay attention to this list, all the things mentioned are what we consider in one for or another as normal and to some degree acceptable behavior in our society.

hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness,  are aspects many of do not even think about, we act in these manners without consideration.

These are part of our day to day existence in one form or another.  We are raised in a society where selfish ambition is not even thought of as being wrong, it is as it is.

We live in a society today where dissensions factions and hatred are normal behavior.  We do not talk things through, we build barriers based on differences and form factions.

Envy is common, I see a neighbor with a car or a spouse or house that is better than mine and I envy them for their possessions.

Society is structured on these things.  Tare each other down, do not trust, think only of my own needs and desires.  Maintain things as they have been since the beginning of time.

Here is what Paul states should be our guidelines in society.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Granted these are in no way simple things to do on a daily basis, but they are also in some cases completely different from what we may think they mean.

Love, is not Sex.  Sex can be an expression of love but they are not the same thing.

Love in this regard is acceptance of people, no matter how different that they may be from us.  Not judging one and other and being open to helping one and other in times of difficulty,

What is Joy?  It is a sense of feeling good because of what we are doing, it is not based on a person or success in being wealthy.  Joseph Campbell said it best when he was being interviewed by Bill Moyers back in the early 1980's.

Campbell said that Joy comes from "When we are following our bliss."  He went onto explain that this comes from when we find contentment in what we are doing, not because we are paid a million dollars, but because what we do brings us joy it brings us a sense of peace.

Peace is a sense of calmness, the ability to be calm no matter how bad the circumstances around us may be.

Forbearance.  To forgive one of a debt or action.

Kindness,Goodness and Gentleness are all related concepts.

Kindness instead of being rash and judgmental we are kind, we treat all people with tenderness and respect.

Goodness acting and thinking in a positive and uplifting manner, bringing out the best in ourselves and in others.

Gentleness again being kind, considerate, compassionate tender.  Treating one and other as we would like to be treated.

Faithfulness not to betray a trust whenter in a personal or business relationship.  To not give into temptation to abandon or harm another.

Self Control.  Not allowing oneself to give into anger or rage or selfish desires.  To be calm and to be focused on a positive result.

These are what we need to focus on, when we do we change the focus of others, who in turn do the same.  Over time this collective process transforms us and our world to a place of endless possibilities and potential because we work toward the positive the uplifting of one and other and let go of the negative and destructive aspects we have allowed to control the world for over two thousand years.

Galatians 4 Part 2

In Verse 19 and 20 Paul expresses the pain he is feeling, he relates this to 'child birth' because he feels that the Galatian people are not fully in-bodied in Christ yet.

In Verse 20 he regrets that he can not be present with his church because he would like to be able to respond more directly and he is conflicted by the actions of the people.

Hagar and Sarah

In Verse 21 Paul begins to challenge the people of Galatia on their desire to be under the law* He asks them about if they understand what the law says, then he goes to scripture to explain what the law meant at that time.

He talks of Abraham's two son's, how one married a free woman and the second a woman under bondage whose children would be born into slavery with no choice, this being Hagar.

Paul continues to expand that the child born by Sarah is a child of Promise, that this child is born through the Holy Spirit and and is blessed by God's presence.

If one chooses to live by the law, one surrenders their freedom and becomes a slave to the world and its' traps.

21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 

23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 

25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 

26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 

27 For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband.”[e]

28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 

29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now.

 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”[f]

31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Slavery and The Law

Throughout The New Testament two things come up regularly, these things are the term of Slavery and being Under the Law.

When the term slavery or slave comes up it has several meanings.

First off is one who is owned by another and must do what that person commands them to do, they have no individual rights or voice.

Secondly the words mean one who is submissive to a behavior or addiction, they feel trapped and in bondage to this way of life because they have lived this way for so long in their life.

Third is an extension of the second.  Except here it is one who lives their life by the rules of the world because this is all they know, they know of The New Testament but think of it as something that is a nice belief for the holy day(s) but see no way of living by its principles daily.

Lastly it refers to when as a person or collective we bow down to things that are destructive and evil and are put in this world by the enemy of man who only wishes us to fail and to submit to the way things have always been, not being able to see that we have value and purpose beyond the ways of our day to day life in the pattern we have been taught.

That pattern being of our needs only, of judging others who are struggling or do not fit in to the way they know to be "true" Not helping others because they must help themselves on their own and must not gain aid from us collectively because this is "Socialism" when we come together to help one and other succeed.

This pattern is so ingrained that it has become the backbone of a political party that has kept things as they were at the time even before Jesus.


THE LAW

The Law is the Law of Moses and the 660 laws of the Jewish faith.  From Burnt Offerings to Sacrifice of Lambs and other animals amongst the laws, all of which must be obeyed to be accepted by God.

When Jesus came into the world, he did away with the need for us to follow these laws, he commanded us to follow only two this being known as The Great Commission.

The first is to Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength Mark 12 verse 29.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself, (Do unto Others as you would have them Do unto you, Matthew 7 verse 12, Mark 12 Verse 21 and Luke 10 verse 27)

"There are none other commandments greater than these."  Mark 12 Verse 29-31.

Some may argue that Jesus did not precisely say he was abandoning the 10 Commandments of Moses.  However in his own words he said clearly "There are none other commandments greater than these.

Perhaps the 10 Commandments do still exist, but the main commandments that Jesus commissioned us all to follow is to Love God and Love one and other above all else.

When we follow this simple commandment(s) it takes us from judging others and it puts us in obedience to Gods word and call to us, to follow what we are called to do, which many of us know from childhood but we are told, you have to live in the real world, you can not do that and survive.

The Great Commission is saying to us, not to do what is simple and safe by the standards of the world, obeying The Acts of the Flesh, but to live beyond the world, to listen to God and set a new standard.

A standard when love, compassion, forgiveness and self control among other things are what we live by and we trust that God will help provide for our material needs and other needs as we live by his word.

Chapter 3 The Law and the Promise and Chapter 4 Transformation and Staying the path.

Chapter 3 The Law and the Promise 

Paul begins this section of Galation's by explaining that God's covenant with Abraham and his seed for the seed would manifest itself with the birth of Jesus, thus the covenant  did not end when the law was instituted 430 years later.

The explanation for the law was due to transgressions by God's children until Jesus came into the world.

Paul states  clearly that...

The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 

20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.

21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 

22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Paul continues his explanation of this faith that had come alive through Jesus' entry into the world, through Jesus all of us became Children of God, for when we became baptised in Jesus we have been clothed with Jesus.

Our old way of doing things has ended and we are given a new suit that reflects God's presence with-in us.

In Verse 28 Paul expresses this concept so clearly and strongly that one can not but realize the transformation that has overcome them.

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Through our baptism all of our differences, real, imagined or part of our culture no longer separate us from one and other and more importantly  no longer are we (I) separated from God, for through Jesus we now have a direct line to God whom we (I) may approach God with freedom and confidence.   (Ephesians Chapter 3 Verse 12)

Galatians Chapter 4

Paul in Verses 3-7 explains that when we were under-age that guardians were responsible for our actions and how all we understood and knew were the ways of the world, walking by Acts of The Flesh. Yet in Verse 4 Paul explains the time of redemption for all of us.

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 

5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to son-ship. 

6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. 

Paul explains that because we have be blessed by Jesus sacrifice we have been adopted by Jesus and God and that not only are we his sons and daughters but that as a means to keep us close to God we have been blessed with the Holy Spirit as a direct link between God and Jesus.

In Verses 8 - 12 Paul expresses his concern that he is seeing some among the Brothers and Sisters in Galatia to be weakening and looking to give up their son-ship and daughter-ship and go back and be slave to those who do not know God or are known by God because of the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

He closes his address to the people of Galatia with a plea to them in Verse 12.

12 "I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong."

In verses 13 and 14 talks of how when he came before the people of Galatia they accepted him and the words he spoke, how it was if he were  Christ Jesus himself that spoke to them.

He asks if he has become their enemy because of  speaking the truth of the good news to them?  

In Verse 17 Paul states that his concern is that the people who are causing the dissension are trying to manipulate them  to be zealous not for their conviction toward God but to have their conviction and Zealousness focused on them, for their personal gratification and power.

In Verse 18 Paul expresses how being Zealous can be a good thing for the people of Galatia, but how it needs to be consistent. as is stated here.

18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 

This ends this part of my posting on Galations, I will continue this in the next blog.

  

A Study of Paul's Letters to the Galatian's

Today I am beginning a study of one of my favorite writers in the New Testament and one of his most powerful series of letters.

I am speaking of Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsis, when he had been a Pharisee, an enforcer of Jewish law and judge and executioner of members of the early church of Jesus.

Saul was transformed while traveling on the road to Damascus and became one of the most powerful representatives of the ministry of Jesus.  See Acts starting in Chapter 9 onward.

Chapter 1

Galatians's is not Paul's first series of letters, however they are among one of his most powerful and passionate series.

In Galatians's Chapter 1 Paul expresses concern about how he has become aware how the people of Galatia have begun to follow "False Gospel's" that are attempts to mislead and corrupt the people.  He brings this to light starting in Verse 6 and especially in Verse 7.

He is concerned because these people had come recently to know Jesus and his Good News and yet in a brief time are already hearing false Gospels and wondering if they may not be true?

No Other Gospel

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—   

7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

After stressing the issue Paul in Verse 10 asks a question that even today we wrestle with.

10 "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or God?  Or am I trying to please people?  If I were trying to still please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."

From verse 11 through 24 we see the process that Paul went through in his conversion to serving Jesus.  This is not only key in him building trust with the community in Galatia, but gives us a blue print by example of how we may come into transformation and confirmation in our service to Jesus.

Paul Called by God

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.
12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 
14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 
15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 
16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.
 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas[b] and stayed with him fifteen days.
19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother.
20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 
22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 
23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 
24 And they praised God because of me.

Chapter 2

In Chapter 2 we come to a cross road, for it is the first five verses that Paul explains how he came in contact with the apostles and presented his text of what he had been teaching.

Paul puts it proudly in Verse 5

5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Verses 6 through 9 show how the apostles reacted to Paul as he expresses it

6 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,[a] just as Peter had been to the circumcised.[b] 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Cephas[c] and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 

One of the most significant statements comes in Verse 10

10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

After starting off on a positive note, where Paul had been given free reign to preach to the Gentiles, suddenly there was an issue that was purely political, that being the sudden desire by some to have the Gentiles circumcised.

The issue of that the Gentiles (Non Jewish followers) should have to be circumcised was addressed by Paul most strongly, especially when he confronter Cephas face to face. 

 For Cephas (Peter?) had been living with the Gentiles, but withdrew from them due to the disgrace he felt by living among the uncircumcised Gentiles. Cephas's actions had impact on many in the community including Barnabas, who pulled away from Paul for a time.

   It is worthy to note that Cephas previously with John and Peter had given Barnabas to travel with Paul and had agreed that Paul should bring the Good news to the Gentiles as they should go to the Jewish people and spread the Good news to them.

One has to wonder how did Cephas arrive in Galatia and why had he chosen to live among the Gentiles when he had not been called to work with these people?  Unfortunately there is no answer to this question.

Paul does speak strongly and in a manner that seems perhaps a bit harsh at first, but his tone is explained as he goes on into his speech.

“15 We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 

16 know 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.

Paul is reminding these followers of Jesus that it is not by the law that they are saved which as he continues he emphasizes this vocally and forcefully

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!

18 If 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. 

20 I

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

21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Chapter 3

We move into Chapter 3 where Paul is now really vocalizing his concern of the actions of the people of Galatia.  He is pushing those to see that they can not say that they follow Jesus in faith, if they still are trying to resolve issues in the law or as Paul begins to refer to it, walking in Flesh.

7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.

8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 

9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 

Again Paul stresses that if one only lives by the law and does not have God and his teachings as his/her path way, that for all intensive purposes those are lost because they have not understood the teachings of Jesus and have focused only on works.

10 For 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.” 

11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 

12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 

13 Christ 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.” 

14 He 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.