Life Project Blog

Galatians 1:11-24

Here in the second part of Galatians 1, Paul shares his personal story, and in doing so, I see a twofold purpose. First, he wants to make it clear to the Galatians that he is a reliable teacher; that he knows what he is talking about.  Second, he is weaving his personal testimony into the letter as a means of adding persuasive impact to his point about the false teaching they have embraced, so that they might be edified and lifted up in their Christian walk, and I hope you will pay special attention to that as his story continues into the next chapter.

Notice how he begins his testimony by pointing out that the Gospel he preached to them was not made up by any man, but that it was revealed directly to him by none other than Jesus Christ Himself.  He goes on to remind them of the fact that he was a Jew among Jews, a Pharisee further advanced than his age would normally allow, and that he wanted nothing more than to advance the traditions of Judaism. He sought to do this by persecuting most fervently the church, and was well-known for his efforts as he moved beyond Judea in pursuit of Christians to torment. Then, he recounts his experiences after his encounter with Christ on that famous road trip.

Finally, he sets the stage for his discussion of the interaction between Jewish and Gentile believers in the next chapter, by reminding them of how everyone celebrated his conversion and praised God for it.

Here’s what I’d like for all of us to consider: We all have a story, even though it probably isn’t a well-known one.  How can we help others by sharing our story with them? You know, there isn’t anything quite as potent as a personal testimony, an experience, a personal recollection, when helping someone else with their walk.  Often, just the fact that you have encountered a similar challenge and gotten through it will inspire someone to keep trying.  You might be talking with a person who is struggling to understand, and when you share your experience at a similar stage in your growth it will really resonate with them.

If you are speaking with a non-Christian who is searching for truth, you will most likely have something to share about your experience in a similar position.  Understand that when we share our story, we are not the “hero” of the story: Jesus is.  Frank admission of how far we might have once strayed is powerful, and you will note that Paul didn’t hesitate to share this.

Can you see how honestly sharing from our hearts about our own experiences with others can help their journey?  Good! Can you see how this differs from making speeches or some kind of canned presentation?

Yes indeed, sharing from the heart is powerful indeed.

Old Testament Israel lived under the Law of Moses, very much a transactional system of law, violations, punishments, and atonement. The great priority of that system was found in avoiding violations to curry God’s favor. Sacrifices were carried out continually to atone for these violations, but there was no permanent forgiveness, only the putting off of punishment; the concept of eternal life was not present in the Law. Then Jesus comes along and changes everything, so much so that the Jewish leaders refused to recognize Him as the Messiah and had Him put to death… and lo and behold, by doing so, He brought a superior sacrifice and established a superior covenant putting the cycle of law and violations to an end. With this, a new era was ushered in with that superior covenant in which sin could be taken away entirely and the gift of eternal life became effective.

Yet even in the early days of the church, there were those who attempted to bring the old system back into the picture, and Paul wrote the whole book of Galatians to combat them; a scathing rebuke is really what Galatians is, against the re-introduction of the Law into Christianity. A few centuries later when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire, it became a political necessity to force the Old Covenant into the church in order for Christianity to be a state religion, since the Law was the code of a theocracy and Christianity was not… and the battle began in earnest and is with us to this day between law and violation, and love and our response to it. Several of our Christian traditions are grounded in this legal approach to faith that should never have been there, and they see most things in terms of law and violation, resulting in what we would call “legalism” today.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to write a 50,000 word post to fully explain and document all of this, nor do I suspect you would read such a post if I were to write it, so let’s just cut to the chase: Do you define your identity in Christ in terms of Law or in terms of love and grace?

OK, perfect! Every one of you said love and grace… go ahead and admit it, I’m right.

That being the case, consider this one: Is the will of God for your life a list of do’s or a list of don’ts?

OK, you may not agree with me on much, but you must grant me this: I am the only human being in history who has read every single comment posted on this blog, not to mention a fair number that weren’t posted due to language. Since we agree that our identity in Christ is about love and grace, why do some send me lists of “don’ts”? (Aha, that’s how he can tell!)

The Ways of this World

In the world we live in today, almost every time something happens, somebody proposes a new law. If you turn back the clock 150 years, states were passing laws banning sodomy, now they pass laws to ban opposition to sodomy. Back in the day, they banned abortion, now they ban protesting abortion. They passed laws against civil rights for some people, and then passed laws to help those people. Somebody commits a mass killing and we pass another law that bans murder, as if the 20 already on the books were one short. And each time, somewhere, someone backed one of these stupid laws and claimed they got it from the Bible!

Did Jesus say any of this “legal stuff?”

Not exactly. Here is Jesus’ teaching:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

As Christians, we live to a much higher standard than those living under the Law, for with us, it isn’t simply a matter of avoiding violations, for we respond to His love by loving our neighbor. If we really love our neighbor, nobody needs to tell us not to steal from them; it would be unthinkable! Nobody needs to tell me not to covet my neighbor’s wife, for that would be unthinkable. This is a vastly greater deterrent to ungodly behavior than another law.

James gives us some practical examples of problem areas that we might easily fall into and sends us back to the Master’s feet in prayer, both for ourselves and for one another. He tells us to be patient, to hang in there and take our problems, once identified, to our Lord. This isn’t a list of “don’ts” it is the rule of love. If I harm my brother, I harm myself, and even worse I damage my relationship with my Lord whom I love above all else. Who needs a rule book?

It may be, that this notion of a “rule of love” is not really attainable in this fallen world in which we live; at least for the world around us. My own guess is that it is something we have to look forward to when Jesus returns. However, this does not mean that I cannot do my best to put these principles into practice in my own life as possible, with God’s help.

It seems to me that this is what James is trying to show us in his letter. The closer we get to living our earthly lives as Jesus would live, the more that people around us can see Jesus in us, the more likely it will be that someone will surprise us by asking where they can get what we have. With everything taken into account, I would suggest that this is the point of  exercise in James’ letter.