Day 261

Isaiah 28:14–30:11; Galatians 3:23–4:31; Psalm 62:1-12; Proverbs 23:19-21

WE HAVE SPENT a good amount of time delving into the religious and theological challenges of Paul’s time in order to better understand where he was coming from in his letter to the Galatians. We’ve looked at what made his views so controversial to religious Jews and Jewish people who had begun to follow Jesus. We’ve also explored the Jew-Gentile issue to understand the cultural challenges that the early church faced.

As modern followers of Jesus, we might wonder why these old arguments and problems have anything to do with us. After all, Paul’s views made it into the Bible, and it’s been a long time since those issues were life-threatening for most people. So let’s look at what Paul said in our reading from Galatians today and attempt to bring the struggle a little closer to home.

Paul wrote, “The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian” (Galatians 3:24-25).

We can read those words with modern ears and think, Great! I don’t have to live under the Mosaic law. Whew. God sees me as righteous before Him, through faith.

However, when Paul referred to the “law,” he was essentially referring to the Torah —what a Jewish person would have understood to mean Scripture. The Bible as we now know it did not exist when Paul wrote this letter. The Gospels had not been written yet, and the New Testament was in no way formed. Paul could have referred to nothing from Matthew to Revelation when he wrote Galatians. If there were a Bible in this context, it would have been the Torah. And if we were to read the passage again and replace “law” with “Bible,” we would immediately see why people struggled with Paul’s words.

Go ahead. Do it.

Mind bending, isn’t it?

Which brings us to something delicate. Exactly what is the Bible? Is it God’s Holy Word that instructs us on how to live our lives? We would probably all agree that this is the case. However, what if we could obey everything the Bible says? Would following the rules alone make us right with God?

Do you see how this issue still remains with us today?

Let’s unpack this a little further. In our reading for today, Paul spoke of a reality:

You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Reading those words does nothing.

Having faith in that reality changes everything.

In part, this was Paul’s point. Neither adhering to a set of rules nor espousing a belief system can save us. The Bible cannot save us. But the Bible points the way to the God who can. If we only process words and obey commands, we will have missed the whole point. There is a God who is behind the Bible. And the Bible constantly points us to God. If we do not reach out in faith, we will not find God. We will simply have read words about Him.

Paul’s assertion was that faith is the key. If we do not step beyond what we think we know and into a relationship with God by faith, then we have gone nowhere.

Which brings us, finally, to consider our own faith journey. Are we worshiping and defending the Bible? Or have its pages revealed God to us —a God with whom we have fallen in love? Did we read words that tell us we can die to who we once were without Jesus —or by faith, have we actually died to the person we once were? So often, we find that we’re continually attempting to obey the rules so that God will even notice us. Paul, on the other hand, spent his life trying to reveal the God behind it all —the God who has adopted us into His own family, as His children (Galatians 4:4-7).

MEDITATION:

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.