Forming Christ

 Greetings.

We continue looking at Galatians today, looking at verses 19 and 20. It seems like an abrupt switch to a different topic.  He has been talking about the misplaced zeal of the Jewish agitators that have infiltrated the ranks of the Galatian churches, and now, suddenly he is talking about how badly he wants to see Christ formed in them.  Here is my translation: 

19 My children, I am again suffering pains like childbirth, until Christ is formed in you.  20 How I wish I could be there with you and change my tone, because I am seriously perplexed about you. 

He compared his desire to see Christ formed in them with a woman in labor pain.  This establishes an intensity of feeling for his Galatian brothers and sisters that they would be like Jesus.  This statement comes directly after Paul states that the zeal of the agitators is not for good.  Then he compares himself to a mother.  What kind of zeal could be better than that?  Paul’s zeal for them is like a mother’s concern for her children.  

Notice that Paul uses the word ‘again.’  He is again suffering pains for them like childbirth.  This is not the first time that he has suffered for them.  One would assume that he is referring to the initial conversion of the people in Galatia.  

Galatians 4:19 is where we get the term 'Spiritual Formation': to have Christ formed in us.  It reminds me of Colossians 1:27, “ God wants the riches of the glory of this mystery made known among the nations: that Christ is in us, the hope of glory.”  In Colossians, Paul talks about a mystery that had been kept hidden for generations that was now being revealed.  That mystery - Jesus living in us.  

Having Christ formed in us is one of the greatest things we could possibly hope for.  We have done nothing to deserve such glory, but still we can have it.  Paul is praying diligently that Christ will fill the brothers and sisters in Galatia. 

The fact that Paul is praying so diligently for Christ to be formed in them, would imply that Christ is not currently being formed in them through their obedience to the old law.  I think Paul has spent a lot of time establishing this.  They are moving in the wrong direction, and Christ will not be formed in them if their focus is obedience to the Law.  

Paul's point: we don’t become like Jesus through our own obedience, we become like him through our faith.  This often runs counter to the way we think. We tend to think that it is about our own effort.  The whole idea of spiritual formation, however, is about how the Holy Spirit forms Christ in us.  No amount of obedience, no matter how strict, can form Christ in us.  Grace and faith save us, and obedience to the Law does not. Paul has presented this argument from numerous different angles in his letter. That is not to say that obedience is bad.  No, obedience is good.  But, we have to understand that our obedience is prompted by faith, and we are not saved by it. 

In verse 20, Paul expressed his concern for them, still taking the tone of a mother.  Paul states that he wished that he could be there in person and therefore change his tone.  In person, he could express a more parental tone instead of just sounding alarms about how badly they are going astray.  

Ἀποροῦμαι (aporoumai) He uses this word to express his concern.  It is often translated as ‘perplexed.’  Paul is very perplexed by their thinking, and has expressed his puzzlement repeatedly in this letter.  Why is he so perplexed?  Paul's sincere desire is to see Christ formed in them, but the path that they are currently on, does not lead there.  He is trying to get them back on track, holding to righteousness based on faith and God's grace, a righteousness that would see Christ being formed in them. 

What Happened?

Hello everyone.

Today we will continue our exegesis of Galatians 4, covering verses 12 through 18.  Here is my translation: 

12 Brothers and sisters, I plead with you, be like I am, as I became like you are, and you did me no wrong.  13 You all know that it was due to illness that I preached the Gospel to you the first time.  14 Even though my illness was challenging for you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, or even Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where did such blessings go? I can testify that if you could, you would have plucked your own eyes out and given them to me.  16 Have I become your enemy by speaking the truth to you? 

17 These people have been very zealous for you, but not in the right way.  They wish to drive you away from us, so that you might zealously go after them.  18 It is good to be zealous for what is right all the time, not only when I am present with you. 

In verse 12, Paul gives an imperative to the Galatians, to become like him, as he had become like them.  It is not clear exactly what Paul means by this.  It seems that Paul is talking about how he, as a Jew, has become a lot more like a Gentile, while they, Gentiles, are trying to be more like Jews.  He has been urging them to not do that.  

Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:20-21  “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”

Paul’s aim was to win people over to the cause of Christ.  Paul strove to relate to all people in order to help them know Jesus Christ.  He urges the Galatians to be more like that.  Their movement toward a rigid legalistic system and obedience to the Law actually doesn't help anyone to know Jesus. 

From here Paul goes on to describe the relationship that he had with them, as he was building the church there.  He tells them that he had only preached among them due to illness, and they apparently took good care of Paul during this time, welcoming him openly, in spite of great challenges.  He states that their love for him was so great that they would have willingly plucked their eyes out for him.  That is real devotion to someone.  So now, he openly wonders, “What has happened?” “Where has the kindness and love that you once showed me gone?”  

The impact of these Judaizing teachers must have been huge.  They were undoubtedly very negative in their assessment of Paul and his message, even though he received directly from God.  Apparently the animosity has grown to a place where Paul wonders out loud, “Have I become your enemy for telling you the truth?” This is a significant turnaround for the members of the Galatian churches, going from someone so loved for whom they would sacrifice their eyeballs, to now, an enemy.  

Paul asks whether he has become their enemy for telling them the truth. What is the truth that Paul has been telling them?  Douglas Moo states it like this, “the gospel is offered freely by grace and is to be accepted and lived out by means of faith.” (Moo, 286.) 

Note: It is interesting that Paul could become their enemy by truth-telling, since his message has been one of grace and faith.  Why would anyone rather hear a message of obedience to the point of allowing yourself to be circumcised as an adult?  It seems that men would be relieved for Paul to say that they didn’t need to go through with circumcision. 

Paul, then, weighs in on his detractors, stating that these teachers are very zealous.  That seems to be the nicest thing Paul has to say about them, and even in that, he states that their zeal is for the wrong reasons.  Paul acknowledges that zeal is a good thing (v. 18), but if it is for the right reason.  These teachers appear to have zeal for the purpose of sowing division here.  They are trying to separate the churches in Galatia from Paul’s influence and bring them under their own control. These agitators have undoubtedly been portraying Paul as their enemy, teaching that Paul is presenting an easy gospel that has big holes in it.  

In reality, we know that they were teaching a false gospel of an earned salvation, and Paul was teaching the true gospel of God's grace, which is not an easy gospel, but certainly a better gospel. 

The Best Part of the Deal

Hello everyone.  

We continue our look at Galatains 4 today.  Here are verses 8 through 11:  

8 In your past, when you did not yet know God, you were enslaved by those things that were, by nature, not gods.  9 But now that you know God, or rather, now that you are known by God, how can you go back again to those weak and worthless principles of your past? Are you wanting to be enslaved by them all over again?  10 You are observing special days, months, seasons and years.  11 I am afraid that I may have worked so hard among you for nothing. 

Paul continues his train of thought, talking about their pre-Christian days, pointing that they were enslaved by things that are not gods. We, too, just like the Galatians, were enslaved by the fundamental principles of the world.  Like them there were various sins that each of us were enslaved by.  These things, Paul points out, are not gods, although our obedience to them, made them seem like our gods.  

Paul would include among these non-gods, the rule-keeping that comes from strict obedience to the Law as means of salvation, in other words, legalistic righteousness.  This was a god for many, including Paul’s detractors in Galatia, the Judaizing teaching that had corrupted the faith of the Galatians.  

In verse 9, he calls such thinking, “weak and worthless principles.”  This applies whether we are talking about what would be seen as obvious sins, like idol worship or adultery or less obvious sins, like pride or legalistic righteousness.  They are weak and worthless principles that before our encounter with Jesus we were enslaved by.  

So, what is Paul getting at here?  Jesus had rescued them from that way of life. He had set them free.  Why then, would they return to it, by submitting to a Law that they had no hope of keeping? Why go back to something designed to show them their sinfulness? 

Previously in verse 9, Paul had contrasted who they were with who they have become.  “Now that you know God, or rather, now that you are known by God.”  There is a clear before and after here.  A time when there was no relationship, and a time where there is. 

Knowing God is a good thing, being known by God is even better.  It sounds a little something like 1 John 4:10, “ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  The best of this deal is what is coming back to us as followers of Jesus, God knowing us and loving us. 

Thoams Schreiner says this about God knowing us, “God’s knowing of his people hearkens back to the Hebrew verb ‘know’ (yada) where God’s knowledge refers to his choosing of someone - the setting of his affection on someone.  Hence he ‘knew’ Abraham by choosing him to be the father of the Jewish people. (Gen. 18:19)....So too, the Galatians have come to know God because God knew them first, because he loved them and graciously chose them to be his own.” (Schreiner, 278.) 

Paul’s point in verses 8 and 9?  Now that there is a relationship between you and the Almighty God, why would you want to move backwards?  Why would you trade freedom in Christ for a return to bondage, whether that be bondage to the paganism that they left, or bondage to the Old Law that they have been learning about? 

In verse 10, Paul accuses them of observing special days, months, seasons and years.  It appears that their newfound devotion to the Law includes observing the Jewish calendar, which likely includes observing the Sabbath, with all of its regulations.  I mean, compared to submitting to circumcision as an adult, the Sabbath rules seem fairly easy, so it is possible that the intensely regulated Sabbath-keeping rules were also a part of the Judaizing package. 

In verse 11, Paul expresses his frustration.  They appear to be accepting this “gospel that is no gospel at all,” creating a works-based religion that leaves grace out of the picture.  They seem to bee embracing this hybrid Judaism-Christianity that the Judaizing elements are presenting, including the practice of circumcision, and perhaps Sabbath-keeping, on such a level that Paul feels that all of his labor among them has been in vain. 

He has floated this idea before.  He asked back in 3:4, “Have you all experienced so much for nothing?”  He wonders out loud has everything he has done in Galatia has been a colossal waste of time? So while they are not reverting back to their paganism, if they continue on the road that they are on, they will end no better off than they were in their pagan days.  It would be better for them that they focus what Paul tells them is superior, being known by God.