Euangelion: Interpreting Scripture and Life andrew boakye

In this final wrap up session I'll briefly consolidate some of the ideas that we have looked at as we have examined this short but intensely powerful letter and consider the implications of these findings on the life of discipleship. Although the most important things that Paul says are indeed theological, the Apostle should not be understood primarily as a brilliant debater, scholar or theologian, but rather as a concerned pastor worried about the fragmentation of a community that ought to have no borders, because Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead .

The term crucifixion is a very important term in Galatians. Only in Galatians 3:1 does it refer to the crucifixion of Jesus; however, it always refers to death by which the pathway to a new life is introduced. We have seen this in the experience of Paul himself in 2:19, which should be understood as normative for all Jews in Christ - crucifixion leads to living to God. We have seen it of gentiles in Galatians 5:24 - Here crucifixion leads to life on the basis of the Spirit and life ruled by the Spirit. In both these passages, the crucifixion verse precedes a new life motif. In the final occurrence of ‘crucifixion’ in Galatians 6:14, we are told that the cosmos is self is crucified. Galatians 6:15 introduces a new life motif, only, unlike the previous two passages, there is no word for ‘life’. Instead, Paul speaks of new creation; it is as if the cosmos has died and been revivified as new creation. This new creation operates with an unprecedented set of social and human dynamics; it embodies God’s new world and God’s new way of being, into which all those who are in Christ have now been welcomed.

The end of Galatians 5 placed us in a position to once more see how Paul envisages the new covenant blessings taking shape in the Galatian Jesus communities. The presence of the Spirit amongst the community would be a unifying force; so, those living by the spirit, must restore the wayward members of the community. As is made clear in Galatians 6:1-10, to live in love and unity in the power of the Spirit, identifies God's people now, and identifies them in the age to come.

We have already suggested that Paul is at pains to see the community in Galatia unified, and unified on the right foundation. That foundation is the Spirit, and in the passages we will consider today Paul suggests how the Spirit will guide people into the kind of life that God requires even though the believers do not need to make reference to a written law. The ultimate goal of the Law is love, and only in the power of the Spirit, can this love be truly made manifest.

Having established that the context of Galatians and the key question underlying the letter is whether or not gentiles need to become Jews before they can be full members of the people of God, it seems rather strange that is near the end of the letter when we first hear the nature of the charge. It is here for the first time that Paul talks about gentiles being pressured into being circumcised. What becomes clear in Galatians 5:1-12 is that even the issue of circumcision is merely part and parcel of a much broader question of how one identifies the End Time people of God. Paul will use very extreme language to make his point; yet, as distasteful as we may find it, it starts to become clear why his stance is so aggressive.