Reading for January 18th

 Read Galatians 5.2-12. In 5.2-12: Why circumcision should be refused. Here Paul gets to the central issue that is dividing the community. The opposing teachers thought God required the gentile Christians in Galatia to be circumcised. In verse 3: Circumcision indicated willingness to live by Torah (Gen 17.9-14). The emphasis here is entire law (3.10). In verse 4: Cut yourselves off can be rendered, "You were estranged." To choose the law is to abandon Christ, the symbol of God's grace (1.6, 15; 2.20-21; Romans 5.15). In verse 5: Rom 8.18-25. In verse 6: Christ redefines the meaning of ethnic identity (6.15; 1 Cor 7.19). Faith working through love is generally taken as "faith made effective through loving acts" (5.13-14). It could be "faith that becomes effective by responding to Christ's love" (2.20). In verses 7-8: To call to follow the law does not come from God. In verse 9:1 Cor 5.6. In verse10: The curse of 1.6-9 will take effect. In verse 11: To convince the Galatians, the opposing teachers apparently argued that Paul approved of circumcision. In verse 12: Not only would circumcision hurt physically, it would banish them under the law (Deut 23.1). Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for January 17th

 Read Galatians 4.21- 5.1. In 4.21-5.1: The allegory of Hagar and Sarah. The mother image of v. 19 is developed in the comparison of these two famous mothers (Gen 16-21). In 4.21: Attraction to the law requires an argument from the law. In verse 23: Flesh: Ishmael's birth occurred through human conniving. Isaac's birth fulfilled God's promise to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 17). In verses 24-26: In allegory, things referred to in a text are understood to have another, often deeper, meaning. Gen 16 describes Hagar as a slave-girl. Since Paul associates the Mosaic law with slavery (3.22; 4.3), Hagar can stand for Mount Sinai, where the law was given to Moses. It is now practiced in present Jerusalem. Sarah, by contrast, is free. She has no association with slavery (the Mosaic law), but instead symbolizes another reality, Jerusalem above. In verse 27: Isa 54.1. In verse 28: Those who have responded to God in faith (3.26) are like Isaac, Abraham's children. Now, as then, the two children fight, flesh (law) against Spirit (faith). In verse 30: Gen 21.10 gives scriptural bases for rejecting the Mosaic law. In verse 31: According to scripture, Abraham has two family lines, one leading through Hagar to slavery under the law, the other through Sarah to freedom as embodied in the promise. Paul urges the Galatians to trace their lineage through the latter. In 5.1: Since Christ is Abraham's promised offspring (3.16), he is the link to freedom represented by Sarah. To begin observing the Mosaic law is to switch bloodlines and revert to a yoke of slavery. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 16th

  Read Galatians 4.12-20. In 4.12-20: Paul recalls his founding visit. In verse 12: Paul's meaning is not clear. Perhaps, "Come back over to me, just as I once came to you." In verses 13-15: His much discussed physical in firmity is not know. His reference to eyes may be a figure of speech expressing their generosity rather than an allusion to some health problem (v. 15; 2 Cor 12.7-8). In verse 16: This recalls his blunt speech (1.6-9; 3.1-5). In verse 17: The false teachers of 1.7 are in mind. Exclude you: they are charged with trying to cut the Galatians off from Paul, or possibly from Christ. In verses 19-20: Paul is now the anxious mother fretting over her children (1 Thess 2.7). Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 15th

 Read Galatians 4.1-11. In 4.1-11: No longer slaves, but children. In verse 1: Heirs: Comparing life under the law to being a minor continues the illustration introduced in 3.15. Slaves introduces a second image, which was developed in chs. 4-5. In verse 3: Elemental spirits of the world (G., "ta stoicheia tou kosmou") is difficult. Rudiments captures the sense of "stoicheion" as something fundamental--elements or principles. These may perhaps be elementary forms of religion that were superseded by Christ, or the four elements (fire, air, water, earth) Understood as heavenly forces. See 4.9. In verse 4: The language sounds confessional (Rom 8.3). Here Paul succinctly states what the gospel birth stories present more fully, especially (Lk 1-2; Mt 1-2). Emphasized are Jesus' humanity and Jewishness. In verse 5: Redeem, literally 'buy back," suggests buying the freedom or young slaves in order to adopt them as children. In verse 6: The reality of 3.26 is presupposed. "Abba! Father!" expresses Christ's obedient spirit (Mk 14.36; Rom 8.15). In verse 7: Being able to address God the way Jesus did signals the change in status from slave to child. In verse 8: This is typical language for living as gentiles (1Thess 4.5). In verse 9: The difference between "knowing God" and "being known by God" is an important distinction for Paul. One borders on arrogance, the other see knowledge as God's domain (1 Cor 13.12). Weak and beggarly elemental spirits: Jews criticized pagans for blindly submitting to forces with no real power. In verse 10: Given the Galatians attraction to the law, these are doubtless Jewish observances (5.4; Col 2.16). In verse 11: This reference to his founding visit triggers the following discussion. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 14th

 Read Galatians 3.19-29. In 3.19-29: Why the law was given. Paul shows similar concern to defend the law in Romans (Rom 7.7-12). In verses 19-20: Because of transgressions: This is a very difficult phrase; as a way of dealing with transgressions that could be dealt with no other way? as a way of naming our transgressions? Ordained through angels by a mediator: The particular event this refers to is unclear. Its intent is to show that the law expressed God's will indirectly. In verses 21-22: This would seem to follow from vv. 17-18 (Rom 3.31). As in Rom 7, sin is seen as a powerful, almost personal, force capable of using the law to its own advantage. Faith in Jesus Christ: See comments on 2.15-21. In verse 23-29: Faith refers to the way of faith, anticipated by Abraham but exemplified in Christ. In verse 24: Disciplinarian refers to a teacher responsible for a child's upbringing on behalf of the parents, a temporary role. In verse 26: In Christ Jesus: Believers now enjoy that status of full-fledged children who no longer need a surrogate parent. Faith marks the way one "enters" Christ. In verse 27: Through baptism believers "die and rise" with Christ, thereby entering the sphere where God's life-giving power is operative. So engulfed are they by Christ, it is like putting on a garment (Col 3.9-11). In verse 28: The elimination of ethnic, social, and gender distinctions derives from the oneness experienced in Christ (1 Cor 7.17-24). The language here is probably drawn from an early baptismal formula. In verse 29: This is the point toward which Paul has been building. God promised Abraham that gentiles would receive blessing through his "seed." This occurred with Christ, the seed of Abraham, who enabled Abraham's way of relating to God to become a reality-- the way of faith. Those who responded to Christ in faith, both gentiles and Jews, become Abraham's children. Who, then, are Abraham's children? Jews alone? No. Everyone who shares the faith of Abraham. Christ, first, then those who exhibit faith like Christ. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 13th

 Read Galatians 3.6-18. In 3.6-18: God's promise to Abraham. This treatment of Abraham should be compared with Rom 4. In verse 6: Gen 15.6; see Rom 4.3. In verse 7: Abraham's true descendants are not the circumcised, but those who have faith like his (Rom 4.16). In verse 8: Gen 12.3;18.18. In verse 9: Those who believe, both Jews and gentiles, share Abraham's capacity for faith. In verse 10: Deut 27.26. The emphasis is on all the things: obligation to do everything the law says. Since this is impossible, the law is a curse. Romans omits this argument (see James 2.10). In verse 11: For Paul, faith as an alternative way of relating to God is expressed in Hab 2.4, however it is understood (Rom 1.17). In verse 12: Paul uses Lev 18.5 to show that the law is based on doing, not believing (Rom 10.5). In verse 13: The curse of the law is not being able to do everything in the law (v. 10). A curse was needed to break the curse: Christ's death by crucifixion broke the law (Deut 21.23). In verse 14: The blessing of Abraham is God's promise to abraham mentioned in v. 8. In verses 15:-18: The illustration of the will is based on Gen 13.15; 17.8; 24.7. Paul sees the singular use of offspring, literally "seed" ("sperma") as significant. Since it is singular, it cannot refer to Abraham's many descendants who made God's promise possible-Christ (v. 16). In verse 17: Ex 12.40. The covenant with Abraham envisioned that through a single person the gentiles would be blessed. Since this was like a ratified will, the law that came later did not void the earlier agreement. This can only mean that the law was not the channel through which the promise was kept alive. The promise bypassed the law. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 12th

Read Galatians 3.1-5. In 3.1-5: Recalling the Galatians' conversion. In verse 1: Paul's preaching and lifestyle publicly displayed Christ's crucifixion (1 Cor 2.1-2; 2 Cor 4.10-12). In verse 2: Receive the Spirit: The mark of genuine conversion is experiencing God's life giving Spirit through Christ (Rom 8.9). In verse 3: Flesh and law are closely identified in Paul (Rom 8.3). In verse 5: Work miracles (literally "working powers" ) signified sense of the Spirit (1 Cor 12.10). Comments or Questions..