Galatians 6:1-5

Please read the passage carefully.

The theme of Galatians 6:1-5 is kindness. This is a good introduction to chapter 6 because it addresses the two most important issues in the chapter - what it means to live a "spiritual" life, and the destructive effects of our natural tendency to compare ourselves to others.

The incident in Corinth as recording in II Corinthians 2:6-8 may still be in Paul's mind.  They had overzealously disciplined a member of their community.  Their readiness to forgive would be a test of their spirituality.  Chrysostom calls it a spiritual gift to correct another part of the body of Christ with gentleness.

The counsel of Paul shows wisdom. Lest Spirit-led persons undertake the task too cavalierly or condescendingly, Paul warns, “Take care that you yourselves are not tempted” (v. 1c). St. Augustine says, “There is no sin which one person has committed, that another person may not commit it also.” Luther adds, “We stand in slippery places.” All of us stand in need of watchfulness. 

Presumably, his concern is two fold: (1) that they not become ensnared by the same desire; and (2) that they not deal harshly with the transgressor.

Galatians 6:1, then, presents the case scenario of sin occurring within the community and suggests how the community should handle it. This verse is an example that quite early, the church had to deal with sins within the Christian community, and Paul here counsels gentleness in dealing with it. In this case, according to Frank Matera, the Greek verb that the NRSV translates "detected" actually means, "a believer is unexpectedly caught in the midst of unbecoming conduct." He goes on to argue that the word "and," which the NRSV translates "if," should be translated "even if," implying that the case being presented is of the most unambiguous type. Even where there is no doubt of a person having sinned, then, Paul would argue, the offending person should be corrected in a spirit of gentleness by others who, like him or her, presumably, are seeking to be "spiritual" persons.

A "spiritual" person should "restore" an offending member of the community, even if that person were caught in the act, and even that restoration should be done in a spirit of "gentleness," which is, in and of itself, one of the spiritual gifts mentioned by Paul in Galatians 5:23. F. F. Bruce reminds us that it is easy for certain types of religious persons to sit in judgment of fellow Christians. Instead of yielding to this temptation, Paul urges the Galatians to "bear one another's burdens." Chrysostom notes that every individual has failings, so Paul exhorts the Galatians not to scrutinize severely the failings of others, but rather to bear them. Hans Dieter Betz notes that this phrase occurs elsewhere in Greek literature, dealing with the benefits and demands of friendship. He writes, "Applied to 6:1, the maxim [bear one another's burdens] means that 'failure' by Christians should be regarded as part of the 'burden of life' and should be shared and borne by the Christian community." Calvin is also wise on this point when he says that many people “seize on the faults” of brothers and sisters

as an occasion of insulting them, and of using reproachful and cruel language. Were the pleasure they take in upbraiding equaled by their desire to produce amendment, they would act in a different manner. Reproof … must be administered to offenders. While we must not shrink from a faithful testimony against sin, neither must we omit to mix oil with the vinegar. 

            Paul is quite consistent with the philosophical tradition as it discussed friendship. In particular, Xenophon, Memorabilia, II.7.1-12 and Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, IX.11.

In verse 2, he could be referring to the example of Christ. Galatians is also a summons to obey the law of Christ. His life becomes the hermeneutical key that unlocks the abiding significance of the Law. Luther notes that Christ gave us no other law than this law of mutual love, that we love one another. To love means to bear another’s burdens.

“Christians must have strong shoulders to bear the burdens of their fellow Christians. Faithful pastors recognize many errors and offenses in the church, which they oversee. In civil affairs, an official has to overlook much if he is fit to rule. If we can overlook our own shortcomings and wrong-doings, we ought to overlook the shortcomings of others.” 

According to Betz, Paul here is warning against "taking on more than one can handle." He goes on to argue that, in fact, "there is no contradiction between this statement and that in 6:2 because 'sharing the burdens of life' does not eliminate the fact that everybody must learn how to live with himself."

Galatians 5:13-26

Please read the passage carefully.

Having identified freedom as Christ's gift to his followers, Paul now carefully defines just what kind of "freedom" this is and what it requires. Even though Paul calls on the Galatians to firmly resist once more being brought to submission beneath a “yoke of slavery” (v. 1), Paul insists that being “called to freedom” in Christ means that we are “through love [to] become slaves to one another” (v. 13). For Paul, freedom is not the opposite of slavery, but rather a matter of what one serves.

“Flesh” is that self-regarding human nature corrupted at its source, with its unchecked appetites and propensities, which result in the works of the flesh he will soon list.

Many commentators have noted how Paul's complex relationship to the law is demonstrated in the message he presents in verses 13 and 14. First, Paul emphasizes the power and priority of Christ's freedom and love over the letter of the law. Yet, in verse 14, he uses a popular encapsulation of the law itself to demonstrate correct behavior in those living within Christ's freedom. Some commentators have suggested that this reference to "the law" allows one to understand it as Paul's continued commitment to the "second table" of the Mosaic covenant - and the ethical/relational precepts spelled out there. Others claim Paul is stressing the difference between the concern of the opponents with doing the Law and his own urgings that Christians fulfill the law through love.

However, why should others be any more beneficial a master than one’s own self? Does not experience teach us that those who submit their own desires to the desires of others are often, if not perhaps universally, taken advantage of by them? The very real potential for such abuse may be exactly why Paul immediately asserts that the “whole law” can be reduced to the command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 14).

Paul and Jesus unite at the supremacy of love. In b.Sabb. 31a, we read of a Gentile coming to Shammai asking the rabbi to teach him the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Shammai hit him with a rod that he had. When he went to Hillel, he responded, “What is hateful to you do not to your neighbor; that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary. Go and learn it. Judaism had other attempts to summarize or organize the Torah into shorter topics or sayings. Yet, that command applied individually (“I must love others as I love myself”) of course cannot stave off abuse.

Clearly, in verse 14 Paul uses the “law” in a positive sense. Most likely, he uses it in a way that corresponds to the use of the Hebrew word Torah within Judaism to refer to the “instruction” God provides through the Scriptures regarding how to live in relationship with the Divine, other people and all of creation.

In all of this, we can see the problem that Luther unnecessarily created for himself. He made such a sharp distinction between faith and love that there is legitimate concern that “faith” becomes only a matter of inner conscience, with little effect upon how one lives. In this, I think John Wesley had a better way of thinking, using these verses to say that Christianity is always faith working through love.

Verses 16-21 and 22-26 divide human behavior into that of the "flesh" and that of the "spirit.” Traditional interpretations of these two ways have tended to take Paul literally. One understands flesh as the base, fallen nature of human flesh.  Likewise, one understands the spirit as a literal reference to living within the power and the influence of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.  Some scholars suggest that such a reading is too simplistic.  This interpretation reads flesh and spirit as redemptive historical terms.  For Paul, fleshly existence was something that trapped all people until the events of Christ's death and resurrection.  Those who hear and believe the news of Christ's resurrection, however, now enter into a new plane of existence - living in the Spirit.  In this model, the Mosaic Law was part of the old fleshly system that existed before Christ's redemptive death.  Thus, when Paul argues against being in the flesh he is not simply citing flesh as an inferior human condition, but as a past standard that has been overwhelmed by the event of Christ's death and resurrection.  Those still in the flesh are the opponents whose teachings are causing confusion and dissension in the Galatian church.  Those in the spirit are all those who live the light of Christ's redemptive acts.  To live in "the Spirit" is to experience the crucifixion of one's own flesh (v. 24) and thus to enjoy the new freedom Christ offers.

As Paul refers to the reign of God here, he refers to a future reality, the heritage of the people of God in the age to come. The gift of the Spirit is the guarantee or first installment of that heritage.

 Verses 22-26 focus on the Spirit. Here are the graces that exhibit the lifestyle of those who live by the energy and indwelling of the Spirit. Even if we continue to read verses 16-25 as literal references to flesh and Spirit, there remains an undercurrent in Paul's words of the continuing battle between law and freedom.

If we examine the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, we can see that while the former disrupt fellowship and friendship, the latter build it up.

Galatians 5:1-12

Read the passage carefully.

The theme of Galatians 5:1-12 is that of a warning that his readers need to stand firm in their Christian liberty, thereby rejecting the way of circumcision and Law.

Tolmie says that 5:2-6 are a strict warming against circumcision, while verses 7-12 vilify the opponents. Here is the first time he mentions circumcision, even though it has been in the background of the conversation throughout. Paul makes the point that one cannot satisfy the demands of the Law with a token fulfillment of particular requirements. The Law demands total compliance. The opponents of Paul will have much for which to answer. It also appears that in this section Paul is responding to the charge of inconsistency regarding his position on circumcision. 

As Paul sees it, to give up this freedom that Christ has won, and thereby giving up justifying faith, is the temptation into which false teachers have led these people and won some success among them. 

The point Paul is making is that even if you kept the whole Law, the Law is not a way of salvation. He would say this, based upon his personal experience. In this vein, Luther notes, “When I was a monk I tried ever so hard to live up to the strict rules of my order. I used to make a list of my sins, and I was always on the way to confession, and whatever penances were enjoined upon me I performed religiously. In spite of it all, my conscience was always in a fever of doubt. The more I sought to help my poor stricken conscience the worse it got. The more I paid attention to the regulations the more I transgressed them.”

In verse 4, Paul is emphasizing the incompatibility of faith and works, divine grace and human merit, when it comes to the justification of the sinner before God. Pannenberg[1] notes in the one act of baptism the ship of the new Christian life becomes ready. If Christians can also fall from grace, as this passage suggests, they can always regain it. Baptism is there all their lives.

In verse 5, F. F. Bruce may have it right when he says that justification by faith and life in the Spirit are two sides of the same coin. Neither can be present without the other. As Luther puts it, Works based on faith are wrought through love, but humanity is not justified through love. 

In verse 6, Paul clarifies that faith is the principle of new life. Yet, living faith shows itself in the practice of love. As Luther puts it, “In this terse manner Paul presents the whole life of a Christian. Inwardly it consists in faith towards God, outwardly in love towards” human beings. Loving service is measured by one's response to the neighbor - not the self.  Love, as demonstrated through service to others, is the fruit of Christian freedom. Paul brings into close relationship what later Christian tradition called the theological virtues of faith, love, and hope. The law convicts all the backbiting factions of denying the very law they are seeking to follow.  There is no other faith than that which works by love. The faith to which he refers is in fact a definite act, the entire life-act of the Christian.

In verse 8, Luther notes that “The devil is a cunning persuader. He knows how to enlarge the smallest sin into a mountain until we think we have committed the worst crime ever committed on earth.”

We should also note the use of sarcasm in verse 12. However, the cult of Cybele practiced castration. 

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[1] (Systematic Theology, Vol III, 253).

Galatians 5:1-6:18

I would encourage a serious reader of the letter to read this unit together first, in order to catch a flow of the argument. What we find here is a series of pastoral exhortations. In particular, note how what Paul has said thus far prepares the way to present his notion of Christian liberty.

In the world of scholars, the presence of these last two chapters, for some, suggests that Betz is wrong to say that Paul uses the rhetoric of the courtroom in this letter. Such rhetoric does not have a practical appeal at the end. It might suggest that something other than the image of Paul presenting case to a jury is in play.

The first four chapters of Galatians are really a series of examples and citations about the Law and the gospel leading up to the climax of Paul's argument in chapters 5 and 6. The negative examples and fierce arguments Paul had leveled against the missionary opponents (who had apparently gained considerable influence over the Galatian Christians) now give way to Paul's positive concluding remarks. Thus, this chapter begins with Paul drawing a quite specific conclusion from his previous four chapters of discourse. No one should force the Galatians to submit to circumcision.  The insistence of his opponents that the Galatians observe this ritual flies in the face of Christian freedom.  They are in danger of exchanging the slavery of heathenism for the slavery of Judaism. Clarifying the scope of this freedom is what directs and informs the rest of the letter. 

Let us look at each segment closer.

Galatians 4:21-31

Please read the passage first.

Paul now offers his seventh and final argument, this time an allegory based upon the biblical woman, Hagar and Sarah. I invite you to read the story in Genesis 16, 21, and the genealogy of Ishmael in 25:12-19. Paul uses the allegory to suggest the difference between the two covenants. Interestingly, some ancient rhetoric thought of allegory as a weak argument. Yet, others thought that “darkly hinting expressions” can be quite effective. The power of the flow of his argument is that he ends by emphasizing the contrast between slavery and freedom. I invite you to reflect upon how shocking it must have been that those who valued Jewish tradition are actually children of Hagar and Ishmael, while Christians are actually children of Sarah and Isaac. Paul confronts the audience, again, with a metaphorical contrast. The contrast is between spiritual freedom and spiritual slavery (in this instance, in particular, the notion "son[s] of the slave girl" versus the "son[s] of the free woman"), but also the metaphorical contrast between flesh and promise. He further suggests the salvation history under which he understands the relationship between Law on the one hand and Christ on the other. As Paul sees it, the Law is not the timelessly valid form of the divine will. It is a positive historical entity.

Paul wonders if they have listened to the witness of Scripture. It is not enough to be descended from Abraham, for Ishmael is an example.  It is necessary to be a spiritual rather than physical descendant.  Isaac's birth pre-figured Christians.  Pau now endeavors to reinforce his argument by means of an allegorical interpretation of the Genesis story of Hagar and Sarah, with their respective sons Ishmael and Isaac. Paul calls his interpretation allegorical in verse 24.

In verse 26, for Paul, the Christian is now part of a spiritual city symbolized by Jerusalem. His reference suggests it was common in early Christian communities to make such reference. One can see this in Hebrews 12:22, 11:10, 16, Revelation 3:12, 21:2, 9ff.

In verse 29, Ishmael represents Jews while Isaac represents Christians. 

In verse 30, Law and Gospel cannot co-exist.  The Law must disappear.  Lightfoot was of the opinion that in Paul's day half of Christianity clung to the Law. Calvin and Luther unite in saying that Paul refers to both the ceremonial and moral law. Luther refers to the scholastics, who teach this distinction. However, later, so would John Wesley.

According to Betz, the argument goes something like this:

Hagar¢ Slave woman¢ Ishmael¢ Flesh    ¢ Jerusalem         ¢ Judaism

Sarah¢ Free woman  ¢ Isaac     ¢ Promise¢ New Jerusalem¢ Christianity

 Lightfoot breaks out the allegory in this way.

Hagar the bondwoman - Sarah, the free woman

Ishmael, the child of the flesh - Isaac the child of promise

Old Covenant - New Covenant

Earthly Jerusalem - Heavenly Jerusalem

Muhammad developed an elaborate argument to say that life was in Abraham because he lived before the law. Of course, they went a quite different direction, continuing with food prohibitions, stated times of prayer, facing toward Mecca, and ultimately, seeking to shape Islamic Law and culture throughout a people.

For Tolmie, in this passage Paul uses the authority of Scripture to present an allegorical exposition of the Hagar-Sarah stories dominated by a metaphorical contrast between two kinds of adoption as children, one characterized by slavery and the other by freedom. He does so in order to urge the Galatians not to yield to the opponents, but rather to remain "free." Furthermore, the metaphorical contrast is used to vilify the opponents as their "gospel" is categorized as religious "slavery."

Galatians 4:12-20

Please read the passage first.

Paul is making a series of emotional appeals. From the standpoint of rhetoric or the art of persuasion, Paul is trying to get them to identify with him. He pleads, he uses their former behavior toward him to shame them for their behavior now, vilifies his opponents, and he expresses affection. Betz thinks Paul is now arguing from perspective of his friendship with them.

In verse 13, the illness may have prolonged Paul's stay in Galatia.  He took the opportunity to preach the Gospel. Of course, they would know precisely what Paul meant here, and we do not have that advantage.

In verse 16, in telling them the truth Paul is their friend. The truth he is not telling them, says F. F. Bruce, is the same as what he told them when first he came among them, and on that occasion it won their friendship for him. For this truth is nothing other than the good news of divine grace. If it is true, then the other gospel brought by the trouble-makers is self-evidently false.

In verse 19, Pannenberg goes so far as to say that Christ is to achieve form in the life of every Christian as in that of Jesus born to Mary. Paul is not envisioning two stages in Christian experience, being justified by faith and having Christ formed within on. Rather, one implies the other.

In verse 20, Paul is going through inward questioning about them. F. F. Bruce says that Paul may have the concern here that they will concentrate on the uncompromising severity of his language and overlook the underlying concern and affection. He would like to be present so they could hear the tone.

Galatians 4:1-11

Please read the passage first. A warning is in order, for this reading has stimulated much theological discussion. I will do my best to make it clear. 

Paul makes his fifth argument for his gospel, in which he focuses upon another aspect of his vision of salvation history. The implications of his arguments are radical and dangerous to those who saw the future of the church intimately interwoven with the future of Judaism. He stresses that the coming of Christ means the “fullness of time” has come, and for that reason, the time of Law, which meant slavery, is giving way to faith in Christ, which means becoming children of God. Paul has compared the Law to a prison-warden and a slave-attendant. Now, he compared its role to that of the guardians and trustees appointed to take care of a minor and his property. Thus, Paul offers another illustration that comes from law courts.  Though the Jews are chosen as heirs, yet they are only slaves to the Law.  Any Christian who wants to submit to this slavery is back to a state of childhood.  Paul now expands upon the image of being children of God.  The heir is the state of the world before, the Gospel.  Jews and Gentiles are under tutors, all having a system of ordinances.  Is the father of the heir represented as dead or living?  Since the point is the circumstance of the child, it is likely the father is living.  Is the imagery from Roman or Jewish Law?  It is likely the Romans.

Of particular note is the reference in verse 3 to “elemental spirits.”   Paul develops the theme of Christian freedom from slavery to the Law and to the elemental spirits of the world. J. Louis Martyn offers an interpretation of stoicheia that suggests the term refers to the elemental substances from which everything in the natural world is composed. He argues that the rival missionaries in Galatia may have sought to convince the Galatians that their worship of pagan divinities was an ill-informed worship of the natural elements that ought to point them to a truer form of religion. Abraham, who moved through the contemplation of the heavenly bodies to discern the God who made and ordered them, would exemplify such religion. Their point would be that the Law provided the true understanding of the natural world and the heavenly bodies, and therefore, regulated the calendar of human religious observance in a manner that enabled correct celebration of holy feasts at the proper times. Of course, Paul disparages this in verse 10. In fact, uses a variety of ways to describe the human plight, and stoicheia of the world is one, others being sin and death that Adam brought into the world.

In verse 4, God sent Jesus when the time was right to serve as the agent of redemption and adoption. Theologically, this notion of the sending of the Son is the New Testament origin of the notion of the Trinity, and it has its counterpart in the sending of the Spirit that we find in the Gospel of John,.  "Fullness of time" is the messianic or eschatological era, which completes the long wait of centuries.  One might translate it more precisely as “when the time had reached its full term.” "Fullness" means much more than an end of a period of time. "Fullness" suggests that one period of time has ended so that another can begin. It can denote the legal transition from childhood to adulthood. Furthermore, as a slave fulfills the time of his or her service, he or she becomes free; a new status is taken on, a new era has begun. First, it was the fullness of time in relation to the giver.  The moment had arrived in God's plan.  Second, it was the fullness of time in reference to the recipient.  The human race had to reach a mature age.  Law had worked out its educational purpose and God now superseded it with the sending of the Son.  Negatively, it was the purpose of the Law to deepen the conviction of sin and thus to show the inability of all existing systems to bring people near to God.  Positively, it assumes a moral and spiritual expansion. Barth says that the entire notion of the fullness of time pictures time as an empty vessel, not yet filled, but waiting to be filled up at a particular time. “Fullness” suggests a vessel, plan, concept, or form being filled full. The Old Testament promises are without content apart from the coming of the reign of God in the man, Jesus, and therefore defective in themselves, yet, being related to this event, they are not for nothing. Time has a similar character. It has the defect and advantage of being a time hastening toward the time of Jesus and is then destined to move away from His time. The new age brought in by Jesus is not a refutation of the old age. The old age had fulfilled its time, its purpose. All time from the moment of creation was moving toward this new time of redemption and release. A new age has begun. No longer does the Law hold sway; it is the season of grace! Christ has inaugurated a new regime.

"Sent" includes concept of pre-existence.  The significance of this passage for Pannenberg is that Christology begins with the primitive Christian interpretation of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ. Messiah implies the thought of divine sonship. It early had the sense that in the man Jesus the preexistent Son of God came to earth. Only God could be behind this event, namely, the sending of the Son into the world. the sending of the Son coincides with his birth from a woman. We are to think of Jeremiah, the servant of the Lord, and Paul as he describes himself in this letter. The point is that the Son has entered the sphere of earthly existence with its conditions and relations. This applies to all his earthly course that we find mention not only of his birth but also of the subjection of his earthly course to the Mosaic Law.

In verses 5-6, as God redeems and adopts the believer, he or she can call God, the Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, "Abba, Father." "Abba" is an Aramaic word best translated "Daddy." "Abba" probably originated among Jews in Palestine. It probably relates Jesus referring to God in this way, and possibly to the Lord’s Prayer. The point is the freedom such adopted children can have in prayer. It suggests the power of response to divine love in prayer issuing forth in freedom related to adopted children. Putting Aramaic and Greek forms together symbolized Jewish and Gentile unity. It is most likely that Jesus used this word in reference to God. The word became significant to later generations of those followed Jesus. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, believers are heirs of the riches of the Kingdom of God. These verses remind the believer of the basics of faith in which they stand and offer the good news that anyone who calls God "Abba" is part of the family. The abolition of the Law and rescue from bondage was a prior condition of the universal fellowship of God family.  Though Mosaic Law is uppermost in his mind, Paul extends it to all systems. 

The negative aspect of redemption is freedom from slavery.  The positive is adoption as children.  However, it is not just an inheritance, but new life, in which Paul associates the Trinity.  The presence of the Spirit is thus a witness to being children of God.  We should note that here, the gift of the Spirit is the result of adoption as children. H. B. Swete says that the mission of the Son is to give the rights of being in the family of God and the mission of the Spirit is to give the power of using them. H. Schlier (1971) said that God bestows on us not only the status of children through the sending of his Son, but also the character and knowledge of children through the sending of the Spirit. God bestows on us the character and knowledge of children because we are already in the status of children. For Pannenberg this passage shows that reconciliation occurs as humanity is taken up into fellowship with the Father of the Son, a taking up that occurs through the Spirit, who assures that this reconciliation is no longer coming solely from the outside. We ourselves enter into it. The goal of the sending of the Son is to be found in others. As Paul sees it, a special link exists between the death of Jesus by which believers are liberated from the dominion of sin, Law, and death. Therefore, the sending of the Son aims at the reconciliation to God of the world. The Spirit brings the mission of the Son to its completion. Where this freedom of the Spirit is, our reconciliation to God has reached its goal.

In verse 8, Pannenberg says Paul implicitly gave Christian theology the task of a natural theology in saying of the gods that the Galatians had worshiped prior to their conversion that in contrast to the God of the Christian message; they are by nature no gods. This statement implies that the God of Paul’s gospel is the only true God by nature. The formulation by Paul fits in with the philosophical question of natural theology as to the question as to what is by nature divine. For him, Christian thinking could not evade discussion of the philosophical criterion of the genuinely divine that we must regard as the origin of the world. The God of Christian proclamation would need to meet the philosophical criterion.

In verse 11, the Law is the beginning instruction.  The child must be taught by rote.  However, Paul is speaking of both Jew and Gentile here.