NL 344: Living By Faith - Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21
May 9, 2021
Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21
Initial Thoughts
First of three weeks in Galatians (Pentecost is Acts 2 plus Galatians 4)
NL345 - Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29
NL346 - Galatians 4:1-7 (5:16-26)
Clear connection to last week’s passage
Galatians is written in response to some apostles requiring gentiles Galatian Church members to be circumcised
Focus on justification through their faith in jesus Christ (as opposed to being included in the covenant via circumcision)
Clearly there are deeper tensions between Peter and Paul than were portrayed in last week’s reading (Acts 15)
Bible Study
Galatians Background
Written by Paul (undisputed) probably between 51 and 57 CE
Galatia is a region, not a town, in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey) reaching from the Black Sea in the North to the Mediterranean in the South.
There is disagreement among scholars whether he is writing to churches in Northern or Southern Galatia. Southern Galatia was a province established by the Roman which included the Kingdom of Galatia in the North. (James Boyce, enterthebible.org)
Ultimately this has to do with dating the letter - those scholars that argue for a “southern Galatia theory” place this letter as one of Paul’s earliest and tie it to his first missionary journey as described in Acts 13-14.
The majority of Scholars believe this to be written to the Galatian churches in the North, later in his ministry
Paul’s aim for the letter (all quotes below are from Galatians Notes by Shaye Cohen, The Jewish Annotated Bible)
This letter is a strong polemic against the Torah and Judaism.
Paints a negative caricature of Judaism as simply strict adherence to the Torah.
Some of the same themes as other letters, but less nuanced here.
Seems to be answering to his person critics. In response, he ramps up the rhetoric.
“Paul angrily accuses these teachers of perverting the gospel, of being unprincipled, of demanding circumcision merely to avoid persecution from Torah-observant Jews, and to provide an occasion for boasting. Because these rivals attacked his apostiolic credibility, Paul not only responds in kind, but also offers an autobiographical defense … He also provides empirical proof for his legitimacy: after believing in Christ as Paul taught them, the Galatians Received the Holy Spirit and the ability to do miracles - gifts they had not received by oversving works of law.”
“The letter… contains some of the most enduring and influential formulations of the Christian church. Later Christians learned from this letter that Judaism, as narrowly defined as the observance of the commandments of the Torah and the refusal to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, had and has no value.”
The polemic is softened when considering that Paul’s aim is at new converts, “his primary concern was to make sure that they did not begin to observe the Torah. Nowhere in his letters, neither in Galatians nor elsewhere, does Paul attempt to convince native Jews to abandon the Torah.”
Jewish credentials and Paul’s Call
Because Paul is addressing the issue of circumcision, he begins by establishing his traditionalist, Jewish credentials and then moves to his call on the road to Damascus which establishes his apostolic credentials.
v. 16 “that I might proclaim [Jesus] among the Gentiles” is in conflict with Peter’s statement in Acts 15:7, “you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.”
This is one of three times Pauls describes his experience on the road to Damascus firsthand (see also Phil. 3:4-11 and 1 Cor. 15:8-11)
There is a lot of debate about whether or not Paul’s Damascus experience was a call or a conversion. Perhaps one of the best explorations of this is by the late Krister Stendahl in the short (and excellent) book, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles
Charles Cousar lifts up several cautionary notes about Paul’s Damascus Road experience in Galatians (p. 30). Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.:
“what happened on the Damascus Road was a unique experience, Paul’s own, and we need to be wary of taking it as a model conversion after which all others should be patterned.”
“we need to be wary of using contemporary experiences to interpret Paul.” - he goes on to point out that Martin Luther read his experience of guilt/anxiety/depression into Paul, when there is no indication in Paul’s letters that he suffered from the same spiritual despair that Luther did.
“There is no hint (except in a strained exegesis of Rom. 7:7–25) that Paul had a tortured conscience and troubled soul which Christ then replaced with peace of mind and eternal security. Luther’s interpretation (or misinterpretation) of Paul’s change colored his view of the doctrine of justification” p.31
“we need to be wary of psychologizing Paul’s experience, that is, of interpreting the incident itself or its dramatic sequel in terms of the insights of modern psychology or psychiatry.” p. 31
Paul doesn’t give much insight into the inner workings of his mental state
Importance of Call and Purpose
Paul is resolute in his call and purpose which was established before his birth
He does not feel the guilt of what came before, because it was God who decided when it was time for him to be “converted” and commissioned
This sense of call and purpose seems to give Paul the resilience, strength, and confidence to carry his message in the midst of hostility from Gentiles, Jews and fellow apostles.
This also underscores that Paul does not view his experience on the Damascus road as a conversion event. He is simply living into who God created him to be - similar to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) and Isaiah’s suffering servant (Isaiah 49:1-6)
Not about the benefits - Couser and Barth both note that Christian often lift up the benefits of following Christ (e.g. assurance, peace of mind, salvation, fulfillment), but Paul’s focus isn’t on the benefits he has received but rather the commission he has received. The call of Christ is a call to serve the world, not to sit back and feel good about oneself.
“At the core of the Christian experience a centrifugal force pushes believers—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—beyond the temptation to tarry forever with their own problems or with the preoccupation with Christ’s benefits so that they may join God’s work in convincing the world of his holy love.” p. 35 Cousar, C. B. (1982). Galatians (p. 35).
2:11-14
Peter and Paul
Back to Acts 13-14 and Paula and Barnabas' mission in Antioch (which is in Galatia)
The church in Antioch, like most of the early Christian communities, shared common meals together (emulating Jesus’ ministry of table sharing). Peter, Paul, Barnabas and others participated in these meals.
“Certain men from James” would have come from the Church in Jerusalem where James, the brother of Jesus, was a leader and whatever they said (or simply by their presence) Peter, Barnabas, and others stopped eating with the Gentiles. They stopped sharing common meals
While there are many reasons given for why Peter was urged to stop eating with the Gentile Christians, perhaps one of the most plausible is out of concern for the Jerusalem Church and not out of discrimination against Gentiles
Jewish nationalism was on the rise (leading up to the Jewish Revolt) and zealous Jewish factions within Jerusalem were presurring Jews (including Jewish Christians) to stop associating with Gentiles.
James sends “certain men” to Peter to let him know that his sharing common non-kosher meals with Gentiles may have serious repercussions for the church in Jerusalem.
Peter stops participating in the common meals out of concern for the unity of the church in Antioch and Jerusalem
Paul thinks this is terrible and uses this letter to call Peter out
Paul sees “Peter’s separation from table-fellowship means that the Gentile Christians can only be considered second-class citizens. If they want to eat with Peter and other Jewish Christians, then they will have to get themselves circumcised and become Jews (“… compel the Gentiles to live like Jews,” 2:14 italics mine). The unity of the church would then be based on circumcision and law rather than on the gospel of grace.” Cousar, C. B. (1982). Galatians (p. 47). Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.
In short- Paul’s concern is theological where Peter’s seems to be ecclesiological
Paul’s focus is that the unity of the community relies on the Gospel alone (2:5) not on the law or Jewish tradition
One of the most important parts of this passage is the pronoun shift in v. 15 to “we” in this “we” Paul is including himself and Peter.
This theological disagreement is not dividing the community- they are still a “we” - we are on the “same side”
Justification - “works of the law” and “faith in Christ”
Important to note that Paul’s justification by faith is used specifically to address the inclusion of Gentiles into the early Church. It is not a foundation of Christian thought until Augustine makes it the pillar of his theology.
For Paul the notion of justification by faith is not an individual act of inclusion, but a communal act of the inclusion of non-Jews in the Christian community
Augustine is the one who takes Paul’s justification by faith and reframes it as an answer to individual guilt and sin. Luther, who was firmly devoted to Augustine theology, built off of this notion of individual salvation as a response to his own individual anxiety and guilt and the selling of indulgences.
Thoughts and Questions
Unity for unity’s sake is not necessarily a good thing- we have to consider the theological and communal implications of unity- especially when the unity of one community is set against the unity of another.
We continue to see this play out in the acceptance of LGBTQIA persons in churches and denominations. Churches (local) and denominations have often decided not to take a stand or make a statement about LGBTQIA inclusion out of a concern for unity. But what are they sacrificing for the sake of unity? What theological and ecclesiological statement are they making by doing nothing?
Unity is often the call of those in power who benefit from the status quo.
Opening music: Misirlou, One Man 90 Instruments by Joe Penna/MysteryGuitarMan at MIM
Closing Song by Bryan Odeen