Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Proper 4 C - Galatians 1:1-12

Paul’s letter to the Galatians begins nicely enough but then gets down to the heart of the matter.  “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ…” The Galatians have been “bewitched” (3:1) and have abandoned the Gospel of grace for a gospel that is no Gospel at all. The believers in the Galatia churches - Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe – (Acts 13:4-14:28) originally embraced the message of the Gospel that “a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16) but now have let go of the Gospel to cling once again to the Law. The trouble for the Galatians is the same trouble the faithful always seem to face. Change. I think we should cut them a little more slack then Paul suggests, (i.e. 5:12) after all change does not come easily to the church in any age and the changes the Gospel called forth for the Galatians were monumental. And maybe it is always more difficult for people who are really good at following the Law to fully believe that the Gospel does all the work which in a real sense means to “let go and let God.”

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