I’m resuming/continuing my study this evening, looking at Lesson Two from Galatians: A Participatory Study Guide by Dr. Bruce Epperly. I’ll be sticking closely with the lesson itself tonight, discussing how Paul was chosen and learned. I will doubtless discuss a number of these topics from related materials in other epistles.
Here’s the viewer:
I will not be continuing my Bible study on Perspectives on Paul tonight, but will resume next Thursday night. A variety of things have come together to make it impossible to accomplish.
Next week we will be starting lesson #2 of Dr. Bruce Epperly’s book Galatians: A Participatory Study Guide, “Chosen by God.” The Scripture is Galatians 1:11-24.
I will review how date and authorship is determined (or not) and how that relates to the way we will answer the question of Paul’s gospel.
This is the unintentional third part of my discussion of this topic. Last week I talked a bit more about the initial statement of the gospel in Galatians and then began looking at how Paul talked about the gospel elsewhere, first in 2 Corinthians 5 and the ministry of reconciliation. I’ll be moving from there to Romans 1 (and a few other references in that book). I’m including those books whose authorship is controversial, though I’ll note each one as I make use of it.
Here’s the embedded viewer for tonight:
Remember my resource page on Paul. I will continue to expand on those references with some comments.
This is the unintended second part of last week’s discussion, since I didn’t even come close to completing the material. We’ll be launching from Galatians 5:6-9, but I had already discussed the content of those verses. Now we’ll be looking through Paul’s letters, including those attributed to him, but disputed by scholars, looking for the nature of the gospel according to Paul, and what might “another gospel” be.
Reminder: Resource Page.
Here’s the viewer:
What groups of people do you think it’s alright to look down on?
Because in Christ neither circumcision or uncircumcision matters any more, but instead faith made active through love. – Galatians 5:6
Which, in turn, reminds me of:
Thus faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. – James 2:17
It is possible that the conflict between James and Paul has been overstated.
But my key reason for pulling this text out of my morning reading, as I prepare for my online study tonight which I’ll post about later, is that it represents a broader principle. Sometimes we’re afraid to read between the lines, or better, to discover principles which apply in other circumstances.
These days, circumcision or not is a medical discussion for most people. Yes, it is still a mark of Judaism, but many are circumcised who are not Jews. So what is Paul talking about here? I believe he’s referring to the distinction in God’s favor between Jews and Gentiles. That was the church conflict of his time. Did one have to become a Jew first in order to be a follower of Jesus? Was entry to the family through circumcision?
In the prior four chapters of Galatians Paul has argued that this is not the case. Grace is open to all and is the way one becomes part of the family. Christians have read these four chapters and then either failed to continue reading, or treated chapter five as though it was some sort of advice tacked on to an otherwise theological letter.
That is not the case. The final chapters are a clear continuation of the intent of the earlier ones. My seminary class in Galatians only made it to chapter 4. We were supposed to read the rest, but we never discussed the latter part of the book in class. I don’t know if it was just time or if the professor intended it that way. But Paul wrote it as one document. For him, there was more than becoming part of the family, though that was important, demonstrated by four very heated chapters dedicated to talking about it.
Paul’s concern continued with living as part of God’s family. How do we live now that we’re “in”? That’s where we get to this verse.
Historical understanding is important. Historically this verse was about the distinction between Gentiles and Jews before God, i.e., as part of the family. (Don’t come to conclusions about other aspects of the relationship without reading Romans 1-3 & 9-11.) But it also expresses a principle.
We humans are good at creating distinctions and barriers. In fact, such distinctions are necessary to life. I hate “labeling” yet I must do it in order to talk. This post is filled with labels. If I label someone as “poor” so that I can despise that person and distinguish him from his betters, I’m creating a barrier. I might use the same label, however, to set that person aside as the one who should receive my help. The distinction between Jew and Gentile does still exist, as Paul would acknowledge. It just doesn’t mean that God loves Jews (circumcised) and hates or ignores Gentiles (uncircumcised). The distinction was necessary (and is necessary) for certain purposes (“God’s messages were entrusted to them” [Romans 3:2]), but is not to be used to distinguish those God loves and those God does not love.
Now what distinctions might you and I be using to divide people into acceptable and unacceptable groups? People loved by God and those who can be despised?
Here’s how Eugene Petersen renders Galatians 5:6 in The Message:
For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.*
Can I hear “ouch” instead of “amen”?
*Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language (Ga 5:6). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
Elements of the illustration I used were taken from OpenClipart.org.
I just posted my interview with Bruce Epperly about his new book Jonah: When God Changes on the Energion Discussion Network. I’m going to embed it here as well. I want to call attention to it along with Bruce’s next most recent (!) book Ruth & Esther: Women of Agency and Adventure.
Sometimes we get different pictures of God from the narratives of scripture than we do from the affirmations. I don’t think the narrative should be neglected. We often geld the narrative in order to keep it from challenging our existing perceptions of God. But those perceptions frequently are desperately in need of a challenge.
What happens when the good guy finds himself on the wrong side of everything (Jonah)? What if two Jewish characters survive in a foreign court in completely different ways (Daniel and Esther)? What if there’s a woman in David’s genealogy (and in Jesus’s) that really shouldn’t be there? Can a perfect, sovereign God regret things? If not, what actually happens at the beginning of Genesis 6?
Here’s my interview with Bruce Epperly:
And here’s Louis Armstrong’s Jonah and the Whale, just for fun:
I don’t expect to finish this topic, but I’ll make a stab at getting started.
I have added my interview with Dr. Herold Weiss to the resource page.
Here’s the viewer embed for tonight:
And here’s my interview with Dr. Herold Weiss:
Well, I’ll be starting from the word “church” and going forward to “gospel.” With only a half hour, I’m not sure how far we’ll get. Scripture is still Galatians 1:1-10, and you can add the first chapter of Herold Weiss’s book Meditations on the Letters of Paul, “My Gospel.”
I’ll start at 7:00 pm central time and the session lasts 1/2 hour. Live chat will be enabled for those who would like to comment or ask questions.
