Galatians is arguably the most misunderstood book in the New Testament. (Revelation makes a strong claim as well!) This letter contains Paul’s most confrontational rhetoric. But why was Paul so distressed?
The key is found in Galatians 2:11-14, where Paul describes his sharp disagreement with Peter. This clash took place in the city of Antioch, the first place where a significant number of Gentiles were welcomed into the church. The church at Antioch began well, with Jewish Christians like Peter cheerfully eating alongside their Gentile brothers & sisters.
Modern readers might not grasp the full significance of this table fellowship. For over a thousand years, the Jewish people had struggled to observe the Torah – the law given to them by God through the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. The Torah marked out Israel as God’s holy people, separate from the nations. They were required to worship the one true God & obey his commandments.
Among these commandments were circumcision & certain food restrictions. These practices strike modern peoples as quite strange. Indeed, Paul’s letters emphasize that there’s no intrinsic moral value in circumcision, nor in refraining from certain kinds of food (like pork).
But in the ancient world, circumcision had a very positive function: it clearly identified who was a member of God’s covenant with Israel. Circumcision indicated that someone was a loyal follower of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those who faithfully obeyed the covenant would enjoy God’s blessings. Namely, they would inherit the land of Canaan, where they would enjoy life & prosperity.
But the Apostle Paul saw that the nature of God’s people had been radically altered by the death & resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. The time had now come for God’s purposes to move out beyond the confines of ethnic Israel in order to reach people of every nation. God’s people were no longer marked out by their adherence to the Torah. Rather, membership in the New Covenant would be based on loyalty to Jesus the Messiah.
This is the key for understanding Paul’s famous doctrine of “justification by faith.” Under the Old Covenant, membership in God’s people was defined by “works of Torah.” The people of Israel were required to faithfully keep the stipulations of the covenant law, including the practice of circumcision, the visible symbol of membership. Circumcision signified the solemn commitment Israel had made to God.
But in light of God’s grand purpose to rescue the whole world, there was a serious problem. The Torah was limited to the people of Israel. Where did this leave the rest of the world? Granted, there are a few examples in the Old Testament of foreigners who committed themselves to the God of Israel. (Ruth the Moabitess, Rahab the Canaanite, etc.) But the vast majority of the human race was effectively shut out.
Here’s how Paul describes this bleak picture: “Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) – remember that at that time you were separate from the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:11-12)
For the Apostle Paul, the primary consequence of “justification by faith” is that covenant membership is now available to everyone, not just to ethnic Jews. Jesus had been condemned by the High Priest Caiaphas & the Sanhedrin as a false Messiah who was deceiving the people of Israel. By raising Jesus from the dead, God vindicated (or “justified”) Jesus as the true Messiah, the anointed king who would establish God’s kingdom over all the earth. Everyone who submits themselves in loyalty to King Jesus is now welcomed into God’s covenant family. To repeat, the main focus of “justification by faith” is that covenant membership is not limited to ethnic Jews only, but is open to people of every nation, tribe and tongue.
Let’s now return to Galatians 2 & begin to explore how this works out. We must always keep in mind that the main source of Paul’s disagreement with Peter was the welcome of the nations. By drawing back & refusing to associate with Gentile Christians, Peter was effectively denying them membership in the covenant family. Peter was creating division among the people of God!
Paul was quick to address the problem: “When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”” (Galatians 2:14)
Peter’s behavior was tantamount to denying the gospel itself. Most evangelicals completely misunderstand this passage. They think that Paul is chastising Peter for seeking justification based on his conduct (“works”) rather than passively trusting in Jesus (“faith”). But this is simply not the case. Paul’s main contention was that Peter had reverted to the Old Covenant, when uncircumcised Gentiles had been shut out. But the Messiah had laid down his life so that all people might be reconciled to God.
The gospel is the announcement that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed king over all creation. Jesus is therefore sovereign over all peoples & all nations. By excluding the Gentiles, Peter was denying the truth of the gospel. His actions were tantamount to denying that the Messiah had ever come. He was acting as if the world still lingered in the age of preparation rather than the age of the Messiah’s world-wide reign.
It’s crucial to recognize that all of Paul’s theological reflections in the book of Galatians are rooted in his confrontation with Peter at Antioch.
With this in mind, let’s now address what Paul has to say: “We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. So we, too, have given our loyalty to Jesus the Messiah, that we may be justified by the faithfulness of the Messiah and not by the works of the law, because by works of the law no flesh will be justified.” (Galatians 2:15-16)
Galatians 2 & 3 contains some of Paul’s most dense & difficult writing. In order to understand it, we must keep in mind the larger story of the scriptures. God had originally created human beings to reflect his image & govern his creation wisely. When humanity rebelled, God responded by calling Israel to fulfill humanity’s key role. Israel was given the Torah in order to show them how they might live in the light of God’s truth. Moreover, by faithfully keeping the law, Israel would serve as a light to the nations, revealing God’s wise & loving purposes to all peoples.
The Jewish people would readily affirm that their God had created all things. But far too many had neglected the fact that God’s purposes went far beyond the little nation of Israel. Many Jews had developed a selfish & contemptuous attitude toward the Gentiles. Apart from the Torah, the Gentiles were hopeless “sinners” who could only stumble about in darkness.
But in light of Jesus’ death & resurrection, Paul glimpsed the greater purposes of God. Although Israel had been called to be God’s holy people, they had failed in their special vocation. Despite glimmers of hope, the long history of Israel ultimately demonstrated their unfaithfulness. It turns out the people of Israel were no different from the rest of humanity. They were hard-hearted, sinful and rebellious. Paul has a special term for this corrupt nature: he calls it “the flesh” (Greek sarx).
What then was God to do? He had created humankind to reflect his image & govern his creation in justice & righteousness. When humankind rebelled, God had made a special covenant with Israel, calling them to fulfill this key role. But Israel too had failed! Would God’s purposes be thwarted? Would the creation be given over to evil & injustice?
Paul insists that, despite all human failure, God’s purposes will prevail. But how?
Ultimately, the task of Israel (and humanity) had fallen upon Jesus the Messiah. Jesus was the true human being – the one who perfectly reflected the image of God and was therefore utterly qualified to assume sovereignty over creation. Jesus lived a life of complete submission & obedience to the one he called “Father.” Paul summarizes this concept in one short phrase: “the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah” (Greek: pistis Iesou Christou).
In the next blog, we shall continue to unpack Galatians, showing how, through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, God will achieve the rescue of all creation. Through loyalty to Jesus, all nations are now welcomed into fellowship with the God of Israel and given the power to become the people God designed us to be.
