Since my last Galatians entry, I finished my first full television
series. It was originally aired a few years ago, but I started watching it on
Netflix, and I had to purchase the full series on DVD in order to finish it
because it was pulled off Netflix. While I can’t recommend it as a clean,
family friendly show, it definitely is not evil. It is called Chuck, and it is about a guy named Chuck
Bartowski who gets a supercomputer full of government secrets downloaded into
his brain. As such, agents from two government agencies are sent to keep him
safe. The camaraderie and loyalty exemplified, especially from Chuck,
throughout the show’s five seasons are my favorite thing about the show. He’s
not perfect—nowhere close—and in no way does he claim to have any ties to a
certain religion, but for the most part “loyalty,” “faithfulness,” and
“perseverance when times get tough” describe him perfectly. This is important,
because it ties very closely into what Paul is talking about in this section of
his letter to the Galatians.
Galatians 4:8-20 says, “But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you
were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. But now, since you
know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to
the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all
over again? You observe ⌊special⌋ days, months, seasons, and years. I am
fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted. I beg
you, brothers: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged
me; you know that previously I preached the gospel to you because of a
physical illness. You did not despise or reject me though my physical
condition was a trial for you. On the contrary, you received me as an angel of
God, as Christ Jesus ⌊Himself⌋. What happened to this sense of being
blessed you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn
out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by
telling you the truth? They are enthusiastic about you, but not for any
good. Instead, they want to isolate you so you will be enthusiastic about them.
Now it is always good to be enthusiastic about good—and not just when I
am with you. My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until
Christ is formed in you. I would like to be with you right now and change
my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.”
This section is closely connected to the previous. Especially at the
beginning. However, the first word of verse 8 is “but” and that is very
important. It draws a contrast between Paul urging the Galatians to realize
their new position in Christ away from the elemental things they were enslaved
to and his new argument—“you’ve deserted me, the one you trusted so highly when
I came to you.” This section, especially verses 12-20, “are the strongest words
of personal affection Paul uses in any of his letters.”[1]
He begins similarly to how he was speaking in the previous section.
Verses 8-10 say, “But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved
to things that by nature are not gods. But now, since you know God, or
rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and
bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?
You observe ⌊special⌋ days, months, seasons, and years.” He wants to
remind them that they were slaves to something before that ultimately had no
power over them. Before they knew God, things enslaved them that didn’t have
any right to enslave them. He then says that things are different now. He says
they know God now and that should keep them from returning to their former
slavery, because God really is God and He truly has power. He then explains in
what way they’ve decided to return to slavery. The Jewish law is full of special
days, months, seasons, and years—Leviticus 23 and 25—that those under the Law
were to follow. The Judaizers must have convinced the Galatians of their need
to follow these calendar events for salvation, which in turn led them to remove
themselves from the grace of the gospel. The very gospel Paul had brought to
them.
Paul makes a curious statement in verse 9, that I just can’t gloss over.
He says, “since you know God, or rather have become known by God.” There is a theological
point to be made here, but I would argue that that is not Paul’s primary point
here. The theological point is that we are not the ones who seek to know God;
God is the one who actively seeks to know us, and then our seeking Him is our
response to His initial seeking. Paul proved this theology through his own
story in 1:15-16: “But when God, who from my birth set me apart and called me
by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I could preach
Him among the Gentiles…” However, I don’t believe for a minute that this was
Paul’s goal in using that phraseology in this section. Paul is seeking to make
a transition from the Galatians’ return to slavery to his love and concern for
them. He is essentially saying in this phrase, “Galatians, God got to know you
through my coming to you. He used me to get to know you. Don’t turn your back
on Him!” This transition is completed in verse 11 when Paul says, “I am fearful
for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.”
Verses 12-15 describe Paul’s first experience with them. “I beg you,
brothers: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged me;
you know that previously I preached the gospel to you because of a
physical illness. You did not despise or reject me though my physical
condition was a trial for you. On the contrary, you received me as an angel of
God, as Christ Jesus ⌊Himself⌋. What happened to this sense of being
blessed you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn
out your eyes and given them to me.”
This passage doesn’t exactly make a lot of
sense. All we know for sure is that Paul is describing his time with the
Galatians. It is interesting that verse 13 does not say, “physical illness,”
but rather, “in weakness of the flesh.” Many have understood this as being a
sickness (as the HCSB translates it), though literally “weakness of the flesh”
often refers to temptation to sin. Martin Luther explains a third option, which
I think is best, in the following lengthy quote:
When Paul
speaks of the infirmity of his flesh he does not mean some physical defect or
carnal lust, but the sufferings and afflictions which he endured in his body.
What these infirmities were he himself explains in 2
Corinthians 12:9-10: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” And in the
eleventh chapter of the same Epistle the Apostle writes: “In labors more
abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of
the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with
rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck,” etc. (2 Cor
11:23-25.) By the infirmity of his flesh Paul meant these afflictions and
not some chronic disease. He reminds the Galatians how he was always in peril
at the hands of the Jews, Gentiles, and false brethren, how he suffered hunger
and want.
Now, the
afflictions of the believers always offend people. Paul knew it and therefore
has high praise for the Galatians because they over looked his afflictions and
received him like an angel. Christ forewarned the faithful against the offense
of the Cross, saying: “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matt 11:6).
Surely it is no easy thing to confess Him Lord of all and Savior of the world
who was a reproach of men, and despised of the people, and the laughing stock
of the world (Ps
22:7). I say, to value this poor Christ, so spitefully scorned, spit upon,
scourged, and crucified, more than the riches of the richest, the strength of
the strongest, the wisdom of the wisest, is something. It is worth being called
blessed.[2]
They
received Paul as Jesus Himself. In a very real sense, Paul is saying also that
through their heeding of his message, they literally received Christ by
believing in Him. They were not offended by Paul, but rather drawn to the
Savior.
Paul explains that they received him so eagerly, without being offended,
that he could have asked them for anything and they would have done it. The
phrase, “if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me,”
has often been understood as contributing to the view that Paul had a physical
illness, perhaps an optical illness, and needed their eyes to see better. With
the above understanding from Luther, this cannot be the case, and it is enough
to say that they trusted Paul so highly that they would have done anything he
asked. This is quite a contrast with the next verses.
Verses 16-20 describe Paul’s current experience with them. “Have I now
become your enemy by telling you the truth? They are enthusiastic about
you, but not for any good. Instead, they want to isolate you so you will be
enthusiastic about them. Now it is always good to be enthusiastic about
good—and not just when I am with you. My children, I am again suffering
labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be
with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don’t know what to do
about you.”
This is where Paul’s loyalty and perseverance for those he loves comes
into play explicitly. The simplest way to understand this section hinges on the
word “now” in verse 16. He is anticipating their current response as they are
reading the letter. “Are you now upset with me for being honest?” Loyalty and
faithfulness to people involves the hard task of telling the truth. There’s no
more unloving thing to do than to actively withhold the truth from those who
are erring off the path of life. Paul made it clear in 1:6 that the Galatians
are standing over the pit of hell in their decision to follow the Judaizers
instead of Jesus: “I am amazed that you are so quickly
turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ ⌊and are turning⌋ to a different
gospel.” Paul has been telling the
truth since the start of the letter, and here he asks them to be honest about
their feelings: “Are you mad at me for loving you enough to tell you that you
are wrong?” He then says, “Look, these Judaizers might try to tell you
differently, but your eternal soul is at stake in this! Don’t listen to them!”
Are we truth tellers like Paul, or do we hope someone else is going to
do the job God has given to us? I know that for me I am too often guilty of saying,
“I’ll raise spiritual issues later,” when I’m not guaranteed a later time at
which to raise those issues. The fact that Carrie Fisher died this week is
proof that we don’t know how much time we have on this planet. This also again
ties back to Chuck. As government
agents, their lives were in danger every episode. As such, they had to be ready
for the worst; how much more, in real life, must we be ready for the end? If we
know the truth, we must spread it to those we know. Especially if we, like Paul
are called to active ministry roles in a church, we need to not take the, “I’ll
wait for someone more qualified to share the gospel with my peers,” attitude.
We must do it ourselves.
Paul is fighting for them, and he compares his
anguish for them to the pain of a woman in labor. They were his spiritual children
and he wanted to see them grow up into Christ. R. Alan Cole explains,
Paul
says he is in labour all over again until Christ be formed in you, or
‘until you take the shape of Christ’ (NEB). No-one doubts his meaning: it is
the agony of the pastor, watching for signs of Christian growth in his flock.
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:28 that this was the heaviest burden
which he had to bear. It is therefore inadequate to think of Paul merely as the
prince of evangelists; he was also the prince of pastors, and nowhere is this
more clearly seen than in passages like this.[3]
Second
Corinthians 11:28 would prove that the weakness of the flesh Paul dealt with in
front of the Corinthians was the trials of ministry, and the fact that they
were turning their backs on him made it even harder. Second Corinthians 11:28
says, “Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care
for all the churches.” This is why he concludes the Galatians section today by
saying, “I want to see you. I am at a loss about you.”
Chuck Bartowski from the television show Chuck is loyal to all of his friends throughout that television
series. In a similar way, Paul was loyal to his Galatian friends. Are we as
loyal to our friends? Do we tell them the truth even at the risk of making them
our enemy, like Paul did here? We should. The truth is that Jesus died on the
cross to break down all enmity for those who believe in Him. And who knows,
even if my sharing the gospel with a coworker makes our friendship totally
different, perhaps it will plant the seed that will eventually sprout elsewhere
and destroy that enmity that I was worried about. I for one would rather risk
enmity than know with certainty that a peer is headed to hell. Paul would agree
with me on that. How about you?
Til next time.
Soli Deo
Gloria
No comments:
Post a Comment