Galatians 3: Legalism

Reading this chapter, it feels like we’re being thrown into the middle of an argument and we are.  The early church was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles all trying to sort out what it meant to follow Jesus.  A pressing question was whether or not a follower of Jesus had to be an observant Jew – had to, in effect, convert to Judaism, following all the rules and rituals of Jewish law.  The leaders of the church concluded that you did not.  (If you have a moment, stop and read Acts 15.)  But not everyone was convinced.  Some followers of Jesus made it their business to introduce new Gentile Christians to the importance of being an observant Jew.  Some of these folks had made their way to the fledgling churches across a region called Galatia spreading the message that it wasn’t enough to trust in Jesus, you also had to keep all the law.  It was to respond to this and disprove it that Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians.

All this seems a bit removed from us now, like a family squabble settled long ago.  Don’t miss the larger point.  I doubt any of us believe we need to convert to Judaism to follow Jesus, but in varying degrees and for a variety of reasons, many of us struggle with the notion that we must somehow add something to what Jesus did for us on the cross.  We secretly think we must keep our nose clean or prove our worth, must hold up our end of the bargain.  Galatians reminds us, it was never a bargain; it’s a gift, the keeping of a promise made long ago.

And don’t miss the stick of dynamite at the end of the chapter.  He writes that life’s no longer about being a Jew or a Gentile, nor is it about differences of class or gender.  Bound to one another in Jesus, we’re all equal, all the same.  We’re something new, something beyond the differences that so often divide us, something beyond gender or race.  In that culture – in any culture – that’s an explosive idea. 

– Paul Abbott