Meditations in Galatians #5  Friday, June 5, 2009 Galatians 2:11-19

_____________________________________________

But when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!

"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God."

_____________________________________________

I can see that I have a real problem here. How does someone "die to the Law, through the Law?" And, just exactly what did he destroy? Father, please open my eyes to understand what Paul is talking about.  I can't imagine Paul writing something that he knew the Galatians could not understand, so I don't think the answer is hidden, or located somewhere else.

Paul had just been told the story of how he chastised Peter for being a hypocrite about the Law.  Peter had led several believers to revert to legalistic observance when some visitors arrived who were sent there by James. Paul is saying that Peter was destroying what he had once built, making Peter a transgressor, thus Paul was justified in rebuking him harshly.  

Is rebuilding (returning to) life under to the Law the transgression itself? Could it have been something else? Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law, and that every detail of it would last as long as the universe does, so I don't think Paul would say that he has destroyed the Law.  Is he talking about his former legalistic life? I don't have any doubt that he would say that he had destroyed that, perhaps on several levels. He certainly destroyed a great career by becoming a follower of Jesus.  It also seems that Paul's life was so changed by Jesus that he could even say that his old way of life was destroyed. Its starting to sound like Jesus' teaching that when someone has begun to "plow," he should never turn back, or he would be considered unworthy of the task. Once a person starts following Jesus, they should never go back to the way they were.

But I never had a legalistic life like Peter and Paul. So what do You want me to do with this? Oh... I was legalistic and didn't know it? Is that why I used to think that everyone who didn't know what I knew wasn't saved? Wow! Ummm...soooo maybe I haven't gotten all of the legalism out me yet.  I could actually backtrack and not know it, just by learning something new about You, and then feeling like everyone else needed to learn the same thing? Oh there's more here than I really want to talk about.  I think I need Your help with this one.

I already have Your help?  What did Paul say next? Lets see, "through the Law I died to the Law..."  Paul clearly belives that his having "died to the law" was a necessary prequisite to "living to God."  So, You want me to die to my former way of life. Could You be more specific?  Since I was not ever really legalistic about Moses' Law, I had created my own vague set of "laws" and was being legalistic about them? And You want that gone? OK....

Paul said that his death to the Law was through the Law. How does that work? He admitted that keeping the Law was ultimately worthless as far as righteousness was concerned. Does this mean that by learning and obeying the spiritual intent of the Law he died to the literal meaning of it? I know that is what he actually did, because that is what Jesus taught us to do. 

On a very literal level, I know that Jesus' crucifixion, in the context of the Law, and Paul's reckoned "co-crucifixion" with Jesus is what this is based on. But it really is a "faith event" for Paul and for me.   I want to live to You, whatever that means, and I must die to whatever Law in me makes me legalistic, and prevents me from living by faith.  You'll have to do it through me, there is too much I don't know about myself to really do this alone. It must really be important for Paul to have spent so much time focused on it. 

I feel sorry for the Galatians.  They didn't see this coming. But then I didn't either. 

Lord, I trust You to work through my memories and attitudes and beliefs to purge me of anything that hinders me from obeying Your Son, even if the problem is just me.  

_____________________________________________

Thank You for giving me a few minutes of your time. Galatians is a unique letter. It will take some time to get into Paul's mind, and from there to understand what God has chosen to reveal through the disaster that the congregation at Galatia was experiencing.

The effect of these Meditations will be cumulative, and the real benefit may have nothing to do with what I have written. I believe that the discipline of having a brief daily conversation with God about the meaning of a variety of Bible passages over a period of a few weeks, even if you come to some very different conclusions, will still be a wonderful and enlightening experience for you. At DeadRight.net, under the Yellow Pages, is some background info about Galatians. If you missed an earlier Meditation, you can still read it at DeadRight.net by going to the homepage, clicking on Newsletter, and clicking on "browse previous newsletters."

_______________________________________