Meet the Apostle Paul—Part Fourteen
Let’s wrap up Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
As I stated in previous blog posts, Paul had reworked his old Pharisaic theology in light of his encounter with the risen Jesus. One of the many things he realized (probably while at Mt. Sinai) was that the covenant with Abraham preceded circumcision and the Mosaic law (although the former was added after Abraham messed up royally by sleeping with his wife’s servant!). Regardless, Abraham was declared to be in the right with God because he believed, trusted and obeyed (i.e., he had faith). Therefore, faith is the key to being in right standing with God while circumcision and the law was added later to deal with sin, not one’s relationship with the Creator (Gal 3:19-24).
Paul also argues Abraham’s “descendent” was Jesus, the true Israelite. The one who faithfully obeyed God the Father in all things. When a person places faith in Jesus, they are united to Jesus, they belong to Jesus, or to use a Pauline phrase, they are “in Christ.” Thus, they too become “Abraham’s descendent” (Gal 3:14-18). That means they, like Abraham, are to become a blessing to the nations as they live for King Jesus (Gen 12:1-3).
This is the key to Galatians. The letter is not just a “mini-Romans” and salvation is not really the focus of the book either. The question at the heart of Galatians is what does it mean to be a member of the true people of God? It is faith.
How does one know if he or she has true faith? The person has the Holy Spirit. How do they know if they have it? The Spirit produces the following: love, happiness,[1] peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-24 AT).
But more on that later, so stay tuned.
[1] Am I the only one who sings Al Green in his head every time I read that?