BRUCE C WEARNE continues his commentary on Galatians with a look at a passage in which Paul calls them “foolish”…
O foolish Galatians! Who has mesmerised you? You [the very ones] to whom Jesus Christ was so evidently presented [as] crucified, I would have you explain to me this: was it by [some or other] works of the law that you received the Spirit or was it by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now to become perfect [or: perfect yourselves] in the flesh? Have you indeed really endured so much in vain – is that what it is? Does the one supplying the Spirit to you and working powerful deeds in your midst do so by your works of the law or by your hearing with faith? – Galatians 3: 1-5/transliteration by Bruce C Wearne
Paul has written a confronting letter to the Galatian church. PICTURE: John-Mark Smith/Unsplash.
IN A NUTSHELL
Paul maintains his concerns – for all their religiosity the Galatians have implied that there is no God at work in their hearts.
What do we read here? Was Paul “losing it”? Is this about his explosive anger? Is that how we should read it?
“O foolish Galatians!”
Had not Jesus taught that calling a brother “fool” in anger was to be liable to the “hell of fire”? He had said that the commandment, “Thou shalt do no murder” was violated when we, with our angry words, as good as murder another (Matthew 5:21). Such angry speech violates God’s will for our lives. So, let’s look again at what Paul says, how he says it and why?
And Paul was by no means the first to call those who refused to believe “foolish”. There was Another, you will recall, who took this approach – the resurrected Jesus Himself. I find it hard to dismiss the possibility that Luke’s account of Jesus with the two on the road to Emmaus was well known to Paul when he penned these words. What had Jesus said?
“‘O how foolish [anohtoi] you are and so slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer such things and enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained them how these things in all the scriptures referred to Himself.” (Luke 24:25-27).
Paul has told us of his contact with the apostles and the first believers. This then suggests that he adopted a pastoral approach to the Lord’s people, a corrective style, that had been initiated by the Lord Himself (see also John 20:27 “be not faithless but believing”; Mark 16:14 “He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart”). And we should not forget Psalm 14:1 “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’.”
Keep in mind that Paul is not here simply addressing Gentile believers who “foolishly” want their adoption of ancient Jewish customs to be their pre-entry tickets for membership in the company of believers. He is addressing a congregation of Jews and Gentiles which came into existence after he had announced to them that the Messiah had come. It was when they heard this that they had believed; the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus is the Christ, the One whose saving rule will extend over all the peoples of the earth, as the prophets had foretold.
Paul’s concern for the Galatian church is also confirmed by Luke’s account in Acts of how the Gospel was proclaimed in the Pisidian Antioch synagogue. Luke seems to have left us with parts of the “order of service” from that day, which occurred sometime earlier than this letter, when “many Jews and devout converts” received the Good News. Having heard, they followed Paul and Barnabas. The Old Testament readings and the Psalms from that day help us understand why this later letter was written in the way it was, and why it had to be written.
It is noteworthy that further on Paul appeals to the prophet Habbakuk – “The one who is righteous will live by faith” (3:11). This prophet was also prominently quoted on that famous occasion. Moreover, Paul’s references here to Deuteronomy closely match the references given to that book of the law in Luke’s account of that former occasion.
Read in this way, we realise Paul is addressing a group of believers deeply immersed in the idiom or lingo of the Old Testament. As we said, the word “foolish” would immediately conjure up allusions of Psalm 14. And when he addresses them as “foolish Galatians” (3b), he adopts the approach of Jesus Himself, upbraiding their unbelief and showing how Moses and the prophets ought to be read. He seeks to reawaken their faith – they were slow of heart; their life of faith was in danger. He goes on: “Having begun with the Spirit, are you now wanting to become perfect in the flesh? Did you experience so many things in vain? – if it really is in vain.” (3b-5b)
The allusion here is to the Lord’s promise to Abram before he received the Lord’s circumcision command: “I am El Shaddai – walk before me and be blameless!” (Genesis 17:1-8)
In other words: “Are you now to forget that the Almighty’s promise to Abram has been perfected in the walk of the Promised One? Are you not trying to start off down the historic path of circumcision once more even though the work of the Lord Himself took Him down that path, which was first revealed to Abram, and which He has now completed?”
It is also as if we hear an echo from when the rebellious Israelites conspired to forsake Moses and return to Egypt. Moses later referred to Israel’s “foolishness” when he told the people that their rebellion simply proved that God, having brought them out from Pharaoh’s tyranny, mercifully took time to cure their blindness so that they might rightly see what He was doing with them (see Deuteronomy 29:2-4, 29).
But now, these “mesmerised” or “bewitched” of latter-days, were enslaved to a greater foolishness. Clearly the Lord had now given them their sight – Paul linked their Galatian “eyes” with what had been clearly illustrated for them from the Scriptures (PROGRAPHO) concerning (the necessity of) Christ’s crucifixion. The Spirit of Christ Jesus had breathed new life into them – and so they had believed, they heard with faith.
This new life was no result of anything they had done in response to the Law of God (Torah). To now assume that it was their own work, they might as well have said, in their (new) hearts, that “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1), at least “no God” until their works of the law made it possible for Him to enter into their lives.
So Paul says it again. “Foolishness!” Unadulterated nonsense! To live as if life comes from obedience to the law is foolish. The Spirit doesn’t work that way. The Spirit, as Paul says, now works the miracle of faith by giving those who believe eyes to see and ears to hear.
Jesus Himself had said the same. In answer to the question: “What must we be doing to do the works of God?” He replied, “This is the work of God that you believe in the person He has sent.”
OPEN BOOK – PAUL’S GALATIAN LETTER: BELIEVING THE PROMISE AND FORSAKING FOOLISHNESS, PART I
BRUCE C WEARNE continues his commentary on Galatians with a look at a passage in which Paul calls them “foolish”…
O foolish Galatians! Who has mesmerised you? You [the very ones] to whom Jesus Christ was so evidently presented [as] crucified, I would have you explain to me this: was it by [some or other] works of the law that you received the Spirit or was it by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now to become perfect [or: perfect yourselves] in the flesh? Have you indeed really endured so much in vain – is that what it is? Does the one supplying the Spirit to you and working powerful deeds in your midst do so by your works of the law or by your hearing with faith? – Galatians 3: 1-5/transliteration by Bruce C Wearne
Paul has written a confronting letter to the Galatian church. PICTURE: John-Mark Smith/Unsplash.
IN A NUTSHELL
Paul maintains his concerns – for all their religiosity the Galatians have implied that there is no God at work in their hearts.
What do we read here? Was Paul “losing it”? Is this about his explosive anger? Is that how we should read it?
“O foolish Galatians!”
Had not Jesus taught that calling a brother “fool” in anger was to be liable to the “hell of fire”? He had said that the commandment, “Thou shalt do no murder” was violated when we, with our angry words, as good as murder another (Matthew 5:21). Such angry speech violates God’s will for our lives. So, let’s look again at what Paul says, how he says it and why?
And Paul was by no means the first to call those who refused to believe “foolish”. There was Another, you will recall, who took this approach – the resurrected Jesus Himself. I find it hard to dismiss the possibility that Luke’s account of Jesus with the two on the road to Emmaus was well known to Paul when he penned these words. What had Jesus said?
“‘O how foolish [anohtoi] you are and so slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer such things and enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained them how these things in all the scriptures referred to Himself.” (Luke 24:25-27).
Paul has told us of his contact with the apostles and the first believers. This then suggests that he adopted a pastoral approach to the Lord’s people, a corrective style, that had been initiated by the Lord Himself (see also John 20:27 “be not faithless but believing”; Mark 16:14 “He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart”). And we should not forget Psalm 14:1 “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’.”
Keep in mind that Paul is not here simply addressing Gentile believers who “foolishly” want their adoption of ancient Jewish customs to be their pre-entry tickets for membership in the company of believers. He is addressing a congregation of Jews and Gentiles which came into existence after he had announced to them that the Messiah had come. It was when they heard this that they had believed; the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus is the Christ, the One whose saving rule will extend over all the peoples of the earth, as the prophets had foretold.
Paul’s concern for the Galatian church is also confirmed by Luke’s account in Acts of how the Gospel was proclaimed in the Pisidian Antioch synagogue. Luke seems to have left us with parts of the “order of service” from that day, which occurred sometime earlier than this letter, when “many Jews and devout converts” received the Good News. Having heard, they followed Paul and Barnabas. The Old Testament readings and the Psalms from that day help us understand why this later letter was written in the way it was, and why it had to be written.
It is noteworthy that further on Paul appeals to the prophet Habbakuk – “The one who is righteous will live by faith” (3:11). This prophet was also prominently quoted on that famous occasion. Moreover, Paul’s references here to Deuteronomy closely match the references given to that book of the law in Luke’s account of that former occasion.
Read in this way, we realise Paul is addressing a group of believers deeply immersed in the idiom or lingo of the Old Testament. As we said, the word “foolish” would immediately conjure up allusions of Psalm 14. And when he addresses them as “foolish Galatians” (3b), he adopts the approach of Jesus Himself, upbraiding their unbelief and showing how Moses and the prophets ought to be read. He seeks to reawaken their faith – they were slow of heart; their life of faith was in danger. He goes on: “Having begun with the Spirit, are you now wanting to become perfect in the flesh? Did you experience so many things in vain? – if it really is in vain.” (3b-5b)
The allusion here is to the Lord’s promise to Abram before he received the Lord’s circumcision command: “I am El Shaddai – walk before me and be blameless!” (Genesis 17:1-8)
In other words: “Are you now to forget that the Almighty’s promise to Abram has been perfected in the walk of the Promised One? Are you not trying to start off down the historic path of circumcision once more even though the work of the Lord Himself took Him down that path, which was first revealed to Abram, and which He has now completed?”
It is also as if we hear an echo from when the rebellious Israelites conspired to forsake Moses and return to Egypt. Moses later referred to Israel’s “foolishness” when he told the people that their rebellion simply proved that God, having brought them out from Pharaoh’s tyranny, mercifully took time to cure their blindness so that they might rightly see what He was doing with them (see Deuteronomy 29:2-4, 29).
But now, these “mesmerised” or “bewitched” of latter-days, were enslaved to a greater foolishness. Clearly the Lord had now given them their sight – Paul linked their Galatian “eyes” with what had been clearly illustrated for them from the Scriptures (PROGRAPHO) concerning (the necessity of) Christ’s crucifixion. The Spirit of Christ Jesus had breathed new life into them – and so they had believed, they heard with faith.
This new life was no result of anything they had done in response to the Law of God (Torah). To now assume that it was their own work, they might as well have said, in their (new) hearts, that “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1), at least “no God” until their works of the law made it possible for Him to enter into their lives.
So Paul says it again. “Foolishness!” Unadulterated nonsense! To live as if life comes from obedience to the law is foolish. The Spirit doesn’t work that way. The Spirit, as Paul says, now works the miracle of faith by giving those who believe eyes to see and ears to hear.
Jesus Himself had said the same. In answer to the question: “What must we be doing to do the works of God?” He replied, “This is the work of God that you believe in the person He has sent.”
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