Father Abraham Had Many Sons
Sunday, July 19, 2009
(For an MP3 version, click here.)
The Churches of Galatia
The letter is addressed to “the churches of Galatia” (v. 2). Galatia was a province of the Roman Empire located in the heart of the modern day country of Turkey. (For a map, click here.)
Paul had traveled to Galatia on his first missionary journey which is recorded for us in Acts 13-14. In chapter 13 we read about his ministry in Antioch of Pisidia. In chapter 14 we read of his ministry in Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. You will notice from the map that this is not too far from Paul’s home city of Tarsus.
Paul’s first missionary journey was very significant because it was the first concerted effort to take the gospel to the Gentiles. And when we read the account we discover that under the blessing of God he had a good deal of success.
Acts 13:44-51; 14:1, 27
So when he’s writing his letter to the Galatians, these are the people he’s talking about. These are the churches.
Now, what is that he is writing to them about? What are the issues?
The big question is, “What are we to do with all these Gentiles? How are they to be incorporated into Israel? On what basis are they to be incorporated?”
This is a HUGE question in the New Testament. And it is THE question in Galatians. Are the Gentiles welcome as Gentiles, or do they need to become Jews in order to become Christians?
Or another way of putting it is like this: Who is to be regarded as the descendants of Abraham and on what basis are they to be so regarded?
Why is this question so important? Because the redemptive covenant which God made was with Abraham and his descendants.
Genesis 17:7-11
This idea is reiterated and reaffirmed over and over again in Scripture. The descendants of Abraham were God’s special people, his covenant people.
You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples on the face of the earth (Deut. 7:6; cf. 14:2).
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day (Deut. 10:14-15).
You only have I known of all the families of the earth (Amos 3:2).
God’s covenant, then, is with Abraham and his descendants. But who are Abraham’s descendants?
“Well that’s an easy one,” someone might say. “Everyone who is genetically connected to Abraham. Everyone who can trace his ancestry back to Abraham.”
Oh really? And what and about the Gentiles?
“That’s an easy one, too. They can partake of the blessings given to Abraham by becoming Jews.”
How so? By receiving the sign of the covenant.
Genesis 17:12-14
Exodus 12:43-49
And at different points in Jewish history we find people becoming Jews by receiving circumcision and submitting to the ordinances of the law.
"When Acior saw all that the God of Israel had done, he believed firmly in God. So he was circumcised, and joined the house of Israel, remaining so to this day" (Judith 14:10)
"And many of the Gentiles were circumcised and became Jews" (Addition to Esther 8:17)
Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell the, that they were hereafter no other than Jews” (Josephus, Antiquities 13.9.1)
Now there were those in the church—Jews—who said, “These Gentiles who have believed in Jesus have to be circumcised before they are fully included.”
Acts 15:1-5
(Note: by the law of Moses, they meant the kosher laws, etc.; these things were referred to as “the works of the law”)
Now it appears that Paul had sent his letter to the Galatians just before he made this trip to Jerusalem for this meeting of the apostles and elders to discuss this question: must the Gentile Christians be circumcised? Must they become Jews before being fully incorporated into Israel?
Paul tackles the question in Galatians. And his answer is, “What, are you crazy? Do you think it is by the works of the law that you are saved? Do you think it is by the performance of these ritual observances that you are put into a right relationship with God?”
Paul unleashes a withering verbal assault on those who teach such things. He goes to war. He’s battling against a teaching that completely subverts the message of the gospel. And he spares no pains to let them know what he thinks of the error.
Selected passages:
1:1-17
“That I might preach him among the Gentiles” (cf. Acts 26:12-18)
1:18-24
He continues in this vein in chapter two, demonstrating that he had very little contact with the apostles and had not gained his knowledge of the gospel from them.
2:11-16
3:1-9
3:19-29
5:1-10
5:13-25
6:12-18