GALATIANS WEEK 8

RICK MORLEY

BRANDED ON OUR BODIES

CHAPTER 6 1My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Here’s the first inkling of forgiveness and restoration in this letter. Obviously, if someone had gotten

circumcised, they can’t take it back! But, that person isn’t lost, and can be restored to the community. It’s just that that person should not become a cause for temptation, lest others follow them and become circumcised.

One of the pieces that gets lost in English translations is who Paul is referring to when he says “you.” In Greek, as in many languages, there is a plural “you” (y’all) and a singular “you.”

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, y’all who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you

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yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way y’all will fulfill the law of Christ.

Paul intends there to be both corporate and individual responsibilities when it comes to the life of faith.

The reference to the law of Christ has, obviously, been the cause of a lot of theological speculation over the years. Some possibilities for the identity of this law are 1) the teachings of Jesus himself, 2) the love commandment, 3) the ideal Christian life as espoused in the fruits of the Spirit.

3For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. 4All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. 5For all must carry their own loads. 6Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.

Some people think that they are more important than they really are. Some people don’t know just how

important they actually are. Both are deceptions of reality. The solution to this self-deception is to test yourself.

This follows nicely from Jesus’ own injunctions to not judge other people, lest you be judged. Here, Paul says to judge yourself to find where you are at fault and where you are in the right. If you don’t judge yourself rightly, then it’s up to the community to point that out, and to gently restore you into the fellowship.

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Those who regularly test themselves—examining their own consciences and actions—will know that this is a humbling task. Judging other people, while absolutely antithetical to the Christian faith, is far more fun.

7Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. 8If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. 10So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

A gain, Paul turns to personal accountability. If we work on pleasing our own narcissistic desires, then we will

reap corruption, and if we work on the things of the Spirit, then we will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

You get out of life, what you put into life. If what you want is union with God, then we are responsible for making that our life’s work.

But, this isn’t just about personal spiritual experiences—living the life of the Spirit is about working for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

One could see echoes of Jesus’ Great Commandment here: love of God and love of neighbor.

11See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!

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Here we have the typical Pauline convention, where after dictating his letter to a scribe, he takes the pen from the

scribe’s hand and he writes his own message in his own handwriting. This is obviously meant to show the recipients of the letter that the letter is indeed coming to them from Paul himself. It’s a personal touch, and in a letter like this one, it was probably pretty effective.

One of the other typical Pauline conventions is a list of personal greetings to leaders of the community by name. Perhaps he didn’t know who had been circumcised, and who hadn’t, and he didn’t want to risk elevating someone who had.

12It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh.

P art of his closing argument is that the outside agitators don’t really care about the Galatians, they only want to

be able to go back and boast to their friends that they got them to be circumcised. His argument is that this whole thing is about attaining notches on their belts.

14May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! 16As for those who will

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follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

In contrast to the outside agitators who want to boast of getting the Galatians to submit to circumcision, Paul says

that the only thing he wants to boast about is Christ’s crucifixion. He doesn’t want to boast about his own successes, only Christ’s success on the cross.

This is the second time in this letter that Paul proclaims that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. Here, what Paul says really counts is a new creation.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

This goes back to Paul’s earlier argument in this letter that Jesus’ death and resurrection utterly changed the fabric of the universe. It marked a totally new epoch in human history, and in the cosmos itself—to the point that in Christ there is no longer male and female. With Jesus, everything is different.

Some early Christians talked about the time we are living in now as the Eighth Day. There were the original seven days of creation, but Jesus’ resurrection has kicked off a new day. On the first day of creation, God said let there be light, and on the eighth day God’s light shines in the resurrected Christ. (This is why many, many baptismal fonts and baptistries are octagons.) The notion of the Eighth Day dovetails nicely with Paul’s notion of the New Creation.

17From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body. 18May

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the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

stigmata: marks; refers to an actual mark on the body, like a scar or a tattoo. Ancient Greco-Roman slaves oftentimes had stigmata placed on their bodies to identify what family they belonged to. Worshippers at a particular temple might choose to brand their body to show their devotion to the cult. Here, Paul is almost certainly talking about the wounds of Christ’s crucifixion that have been spiritually affixed to himself.

P aul believes that the heart of Christianity is not about following a set of rules or laws, or even good ethical

living. For him, the heart of the Christian Faith is union with Christ.

Christ was born as a human under the Law, and when he died he was released from it. When he was resurrected, he was alive AND free from the Law. By faith—Christ’s faithfulness to God AND our faithfulness to Christ—we are united to Christ in such a way that our identity is caught up in his. We have been crucified with Christ, and we share in his resurrection—so we too are free from the effects of the Law, sin, and death.

Paul takes this union with Christ and his death so seriously that he says that Jesus wounds are now his wounds. The scars of the crucifixion which branded Jesus, are now marked in Paul’s own flesh.

In a letter about the Galatians NOT marking their bodies with crucifixion, he ends the letter by inviting them to realize the marks that they bear because of their union with Christ.

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Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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