Day 2

Lisa Scheffler, author

There are people in the world who like to believe the best of everyone. These are the idealists. No one is really bad, just misunderstood. With a little love and compassion, everyone will eventually make the right choice.

There are also the cynics. These are the people who believe it’s a survival-of-the-fittest, dog-eat-dog world, and you’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you. They assume that everyone always has a selfish, ulterior motive for even the good things they do.

The gospel gives us a much more realistic view of people. As God’s image-bearers, everyone has value, worth and by God’s grace, has the potential to do good. Everyone is redeemable, but because of humanity’s fallenness, people also have the capacity to do great evil. As Tim Keller puts it, people are so sinful that Jesus had to die to save them, but so loved that he did so willingly.

Because he held to a biblical view of humanity, Paul could be honest about his opponents. He didn’t feel the need to sugar-coat their motives because they claim the name of Jesus, but speaks plainly about what they have done and why.

Read

Galatians 6:11-13

¹¹See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

¹²Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.

What are some of his opponent’s motivations do you see Paul calling out here?

Reflect

In the first century, it was common to have a secretary, called an amanuensis, who actually wrote the letter. It’s hard for our twenty-first century brains to imagine, but writing was a specialized task, and an amanuensis was trained to write quickly, neatly, and in limited space.

Up until this point in the letter, Paul has relied on his amanuensis, but as he comes to the end, takes up the pen himself. Scholars differ on why Paul makes calls out the size of his writing but a reasonable theory is that Paul’s “large letters” are an ancient style of our “boldfacing” or “italicizing.”^[1]

We’ve already seen Paul come down hard on his opponents (1:9 and 5:12), but this is the first time he’s spoken directly to their motives. It isn’t a particularly pretty picture, but it is a truthful one. Paul is convinced that they aren’t teaching their version of the gospel in good faith, but for superficial and prideful reasons that reveal their cowardice.

Walter Hansen summarizes the three motives he detects behind their mission to the Galatian churches. ^[2]

First, he says they were motivated by an obsession with a superficial, outward uniformity (6:12a). “Their emphasis on circumcision proved that they were concerned only about making everybody look the same outwardly (literally ‘in the flesh’).”
Secondly, they were concerned for their own personal safety (6:12b). Jewish Christians were afraid of persecution from other Jews because of their association with Gentiles. So, if they were seen forcing Gentile Christians to become Jewish converts who lived as faithful Jews by getting circumcised and observing sabbath and dietary restrictions, then they were more likely to score points with their zealous Jewish friends. “For then it would be obvious that what really mattered to them was not their belief in a crucified Messiah, but identification with the Jewish nation.”
Finally, they were motivated by pride in their national identity (6:13). They were not really interested in helping the Galatian Christians in their spiritual growth. Their singular focus on the external, ritualistic symbols of Judaism showed this. What they were really interested in was being able to boast to fellow Jews, “Look at all the Gentiles we have circumcised and brought into the Jewish nation,” They wanted to maintain “their own national identity as zealous Jews.

What Paul found intolerable is that his opponents were leading the Galatians away from the gospel and burdening them with something Jesus died to set them free from. Because Paul’s opponents were driven by their superficial, nationalistic pride, they were breaking the central command of the law: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

What’s more, these opponents weren’t helping the Galatians Christians, they were using them. They were denying the power of the Holy Spirit, and coercing people into conforming to the Jewish identity, rather than trusting the Spirit to conform them to the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Respond

By exposing the motives of his Jewish opponents, Paul invites us to take a look at our own. Are we more concerned with the outward signs of modern, American Christianity than with true, spiritual transformation?

In dealing with others within the church, are we more motivated by fear or love? Are we trying to impress people with our community’s Christian “goodness”? Do we trust the Holy Spirit to do his work, or are we coercing people into following our rules and customs?

Are we interested in seeing people conform to the image of Christ, or to our notion of what a “good Christian” looks like?

Take time to think through these issues and pray over your responses.

^[1] Scot McKnight, Galatians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 299.

^[2] G. Walter Hansen, Galatians, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), Ga 6:12–13.