Galatians
3:23-29
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded
under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law
was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by
faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a
disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God
through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek,
there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all
of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then
you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Year C
June 19-25
June 12, 2016
Cross~Wind UMC
Title: A Letter of Belonging
Introduction
Once upon a time, people wrote
letters. I first started writing them when I left home at 18. I wrote about
once every 4-6 weeks to mom and dad about how things were going in school. As I
recall it, mom wrote every week on behalf of both of them. I was several states
away. My letters were not long. They were not profound. They just made me pause
for a moment and reflect upon what I was doing at school and my appreciation
for family.
Yes, I actually sat down at a desk,
took up a pen and paper, and wrote a letter.
Today, I might text, tweet, or
email. I might even telephone the person.
At one time, writing letters was an
even art. One might even express profound thoughts in letters.
All of this
made me think of popular songs that revolve around writing letters, such as
"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," "A
Soldier's Last Letter," "Please, Mr. Postman," "P.S. I Love
You".
Letters can
make changes.
Charles
Schulz created a character, Charlotte Braun, for his Peanuts cartoon. A letter
led him to kill her, literally, in the comic strip.
Among the
more famous sets of correspondence is between John Adams and his wife Abigail.
In one letter, she urged him to allow women greater voice in the governing of
the country.
Albert
Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, mentioning
the possibility of a new weapon that would involve a nuclear chain reaction.
I have been thinking of the letters
of Paul. These letters changed Christianity. His letters would influence the
way the churches would move into the Gentile world with the good news regarding
Jesus Christ. The people of God as defined by the Old Testament identified
itself by the Law. Paul is saying that their identity is in Christ, which
incorporates them into a new family.
Application
I have just
a couple of things to highlight for you this morning.
First, this letter speaks of the
power of faith to create a new family
called "children of God."
It does not matter if you have both
a mother and a father, are from a good neighborhood, if English is your first
language, if you have a police record, if you do not have a college education,
or a job and all the trimmings. What matters is faith.
The promises made in church membership can seem
rather fragile. In one sense, becoming a member is relatively easy. In another
sense, however, the most difficult thing in the world to do is join a church.
The relationship between church and pastor is an illustration of the
difficulty. Many United Methodist pastors and congregations will go through a
transition over the next few weeks. Will the pastor accept the church in all
its struggles to be a faithful witness in the community? Will the church accept
the pastor and his or her family into its life?
It can be difficult to join a
church. Getting your name on the membership role is easy. Belonging to the
church is another matter.
I have been a Christian for as long as I can
remember. I was ten years old. Yet even
if you just joined this church and became a Christian last Sunday, I have
nothing over you. If you have never placed your faith in Christ for salvation,
and thus have never experienced God adopting you into the family of God, and if
you were to do that today, I would have nothing over you. God has adopted both
of us. We belong, not because of whom we are or what we have done, but because
of God’s embrace of us.
Second, Paul's letter changes the
world by reminding us that we have a completely
new identity.
He writes,
"As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves
with Christ" (3:27).
When we clothe ourselves with Christ, we take on his
characteristics and do our best to present him to the world. This means showing
his grace and his love, speaking his truth, and serving others with his
generosity and compassion. Although we may look odd when we go out into the
world wearing the clothes of Christ, we cannot help but have an influence.
In the late 1860s, a young poet
wrote a letter to an editor named Thomas Higginson and asked if she could meet
with him. She wanted to thank him personally for some encouragement he had
offered her. When Higginson went to her house, he saw a plain woman with
reddish hair, and she greeted him by putting two-day lilies into his hand
"in a sort of childlike way."
When he got home, Higginson's wife
said, "Oh, why do the insane so cling to you?"
This plain young woman was none
other than Emily Dickinson, one of the greatest poets in American history. She
refused to be published during her lifetime, but after her death, Thomas
Higginson was able to guide her insightful poems into print. Dickinson knew the
power of faith, as she demonstrated when she wrote:
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
When we clothe ourselves with Christ,
we might look insane to some. Nevertheless, we understand, along with the
apostle Paul, that through our faith all of us "are one in Christ Jesus" (3:28).
Our greatest contribution to
history might be the creation of a community in which barriers fall. Of course,
in order for society to exist, differences of rank and authority will exist as
well. Gender difference is rather obvious. Difference in religion is as well.
Difference between employer and employee is there. We have ideological
differences. Too often, I see Christians identify themselves more faithfully to
their politics than to Jesus. Think of the dangerous barriers that divide us
today. Politicians often use wedge issues to divide. Such differences ought to
call upon us to show the world the depth of our love for each other. If we are
truly "one in Christ Jesus,"
we should be able to overcome the divisions that have fractured our world,
nation, and community and driven us apart. There is more to unite us than
divide us if we "belong to Christ"
and "are Abraham's offspring, heirs
according to the promise" (3:29).
I hope you do not mind if I pause
and make you aware of something going on in the United Methodist Church.
I recall in the 70s and 80s, just
beginning as a pastor, a wave fundamentalism that divided many churches. It led
to some persons leaving the United Methodist Church. It affected a few of the
churches of which I was pastor. Today, a new brand of Progressive
fundamentalism, meaning coming from the Left, that is dividing the United
Methodist Church. It has said it will not abide by the Book of Discipline and
will withhold funds from the denomination. As I understand it, three entire
Annual Conferences, New England, Desert Southwest, and California-Pacific, have
taken this course so far. Just as the fundamentalists of the right decades ago,
they believe they are on the side of the angels. I am not afraid of division in
the United Methodist Church. It may well be a good and godly thing when beliefs
diverge so widely. I hope you will covenant with me to pray for this
denomination as it moves through a difficult time in its history.
Conclusion
Paul's letter changes our history
by giving us a new identity as children of God, one that has its basis on being
one in Jesus and one in faith. In God's eyes, unity does not mean uniformity.
As Christians, we can show the world a new kind of unity, one that includes
people of diverse backgrounds, conditions and genders.
Going back to how I began, once
upon a time, when we received a handwritten letter, we responded with our
considered and thoughtful handwritten letter.
We have received a history-changing
letter. Now, let us respond, not so much with a letter written on paper, but a
letter we write with our lives.
Going deeper
Galatians 3:23-29 is part of
the doctrinal section of this letter, extending from 3:1-4:31. Here, Paul argues for liberation from the
Law and replacing it with faith. He will argue that Christians are already the
seed of Abraham through faith. Faith reconciles what the Law and other social
barriers divide.
For Christians today, this letter
speaks powerfully to some basic Christian truths. In Chapters 3 and 4, Paul
will remind them of their powerful experiences
of the Holy Spirit. He will write that the
Law had its place in the plan of God for the people of God, namely, Israel.
The Law was part of the growing and emerging plan of salvation of the world.
However, the plan had to change because it was time to include Gentiles in a
way that was not possible before. He offers the biblical argument that Abraham was right with God through his
faith, long before the Law of Moses, and therefore he becomes the father of
all who believe, including Gentiles. In fact, the Law intentionally separated the people of God from their neighbors.
What Paul sees so clearly is that faith reconciles people. Paul agonizes over them to see that Christ
be formed in them. With God, everything is a matter of timing. God does not
give us a world where your life is ready-made and at hand. Rather, you learn
and grow. The same is true with the people of God, which needed the law at one
stage, but what God really wanted was a reconciled humanity. His opponents refer to being right with God
through the Law. Paul has more concern that we are right with God through
adoption into the family of God. We have learned that the universe has a
history. It continues to grow. The earth has a history. Every culture has a
history. You and I have a history. Paul is saying that salvation has a history
that one time involved the discipline of the Law. With Christ, that time is
done. The Law no longer identifies and characterizes the people of God. Rather,
the people of God have a new identity because they are now with Christ and
clothed with Christ.
Paul's passionate letter to the churches of Galatia opens a window on
the controversy that surrounded the expansion of Christianity into Gentile
communities throughout the Mediterranean world. It touches on such fundamental
questions as: Were Christian churches to be seen as branches on the Jewish
tree, or new and distinctive organisms? Were Gentile converts obligated to
accept Jewish practices and values? Were new Christians free to maintain some
of their former ways of life? By the time Paul wrote the letter to the
Galatians, the controversy over such questions was raging intensely.
As we have been seeing, in the Galatian Christian community, evidently
some could be persuaded by some missionaries who claimed authority from
Jerusalem that the primarily Gentile Galatians must follow the Jewish Law if
they wished to be truly Christian. What is more, as is apparent from Paul's
response, these Law-advocates focused on both the Abrahamic covenant and the later
Mosaic Law. If there was anyone well acquainted with the promises extended to
Israel through both these paths, it was the elite-educated, erstwhile-zealous
Pharisee, Paul. Heightened by his obvious emotional attachment to the Galatian
Christians, Paul's argument against these opponents is both theologically
brilliant and emotionally barbed.
Galatians 3:23-29
23 Now before faith came, [could mean both the
subjective opening to faith and the objective teaching of “the faith] we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be
revealed. [Paul continues to describe what the true
nature and function of the Law has been for humanity. Instead of being the
gateway to justification before God, the Law was a watchful jailer, keeping people from any further transgressions
(3:19). At times, the Law may have seemed more like a benevolent guardian, but it was still keeping men and women
imprisoned. The Law served this necessary but inferior purpose until the
"time of faith" arrived.]
24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian [Paul
describes the Law before the coming of Christ as being "our pedagogue" (NRSV: "our disciplinarian").
Today, one usually connects that term with the teaching or schoolmasterly
instruction of children - suggesting that if this were the Law's function, it
was perhaps gently educative in its mission. In Paul's day, however, a
pedagogue was a specific individual. In Roman and Greek families, the pedagogue
was a slave whose entire job was to supervise carefully young children, in and
out of the home. The pedagogue was not primarily a teacher but was an
"enforcer," making sure strict rules of discipline and correct
behavior were practiced. Paul paints this rather militant, unyielding portrait
of the Law as our "pedagogue."] until Christ
came, [Paul clarifies that
"time" as "until Christ came." Still, the Law's role did
serve to ready humans for the time of Christ.] so that we might be justified by
faith. [With the coming of
Christ, the time for being right with God through faith would finally be at
hand.]
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,[The pedagogue is now relieved
of its duties. The Law is no longer in charge. Actually, the transformation that occurs
during this time is twofold. First, faith in Christ replaces the guardianship
of the Law. Second, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise now goes into
effect. According to Paul's previous argument, the heir to the Abrahamic
covenant/promise could only be Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:8). Now that this
Christ has come, all the Galatians, all the Gentiles, become true
"children of God" through their faith in Christ.]
[In verses 23-25, then, as
Pannenberg says, we have a historically
conditioned argument in that the time of the Law ended with the coming of the
message of eschatological salvation. The
gospel could not have initiated a new epoch in salvation history if in content God
had not established its validity independent of the Law. The relationship
to the Law is not constitutive for the concept of the gospel. If we miss this
point, he says, we fail to see the distinctiveness of the New Testament gospel
message of the saving presence of the divine rule.[1] He makes it clear that the
coming of Christ is the end of the epoch of Mosaic Law. The Law is not the
definitive form of the righteous will of God. The Law is a provisional entity
related to a world that is perishing. All forms of Law, while provisional, have
a role in the world before the arrival of the end. In fact, New Testament
ethical reflection primarily focuses on what is beyond the external imposition
of Law by unfolding the implications of the fellowship of believers with
Christ, which can then take us beyond the “third use” of the Law that the
Reformers discussed.[2]]
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. [The life of the risen Christ and the energizing power of the Spirit
vitalize the body of Christ. Personal faith in Christ incorporates us into this
body, even as baptism seals it. F. F. Bruce refers to the endless debates
concerning the relationship between life in Christ and justification. He thinks
we will do well to keep them separate in our thinking.]
27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ [The key that opens the prison door of the Law for all believers is
their baptism "into Christ." Paul will make a more full statement in
Romans 6:3-11. The context here seems to suggest Paul has more in mind than
simply baptism in Christ's name. "Into Christ" implies a state of
fellowship or union together with Christ of all believers. For Barth the saying is decisive when we think of
baptism as in relation to the unity of Christians with Christ. Yet, he says, we
must not turn it into a new law, as if baptism replaces circumcision as the
“rite” through which one must pass.[3]] have clothed yourselves with Christ. [Baptism means clothing oneself
with Christ. The metaphor itself intends to suggest more than a mere exterior
layer, but to "take on the character of" or "to become as"
Christ himself. Thus baptized into Christ, we become one with Christ, and
thus, unite ourselves in a bond of fellowship stronger than any other existing
force. Barth also stresses that in baptism we clothe ourselves with Christ, and
not with a “new person.” This image brings into focus the intense connection
between Christ and those who follow Him.[4] For F. F. Bruce, putting on Christ is a way
for Paul to write of the spiritual transformation that occurs as believers
participate in Christ.]
[For Pannenberg this passage shows
that reconciliation occurs as the Spirit takes humanity up into fellowship with
the Father of the Son. The Spirit assures that this reconciliation is no longer
coming solely from the outside. We ourselves enter into it.[5]] 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek,
there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all
of you are one in Christ Jesus. [Paul now
expresses one of the things that excite him about baptismal unity. In
particular, of course, breaking down the wall between Jew and Gentile was
precious to Paul. Yet, for the Jew, this cleavage was the most radical within
the human race. One might also note that the cleavage between owner and slave
was significant as well. Yet, from what we can tell, some early bishops were
slaves. In terms of Christian communities, in a practical way, he did not want
anything to disrupt the present fellowship of the community. Paul applied the
principle to women as well, in Philippians 4:3 and I Corinthians 11:10. Augustine
also referred to this passage when he said God made male and female alike in
the image of God.[6]
Luther says that one might extend the list indefinitely: There is neither
preacher nor hearer, neither teacher nor scholar, neither master nor servant, and
so on. For him, in the matter of salvation, rank, learning, righteousness,
influence count for nothing. There is evidence that one of the legal
requirements Paul's opponents were advocating among Gentile Christians was the
rite of circumcision. This rite obviously symbolized the difference between Jew
and Gentile - that held groups apart. Now Paul triumphantly holds up baptism
into Christ as the act that breaks down all barriers and blurs all
distinctions. Paul declares that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile
(Greek). He also insists that even the other major categories of distinction no
longer hold - there is no "slave or free" nor even any "male or
female." Dissolving these differences also suggests that in Christ there
is no hierarchy - morally (Jew/Gentile),
economically (free/slave) or socially (male/female). All distinctions are
removed, religious caste, social rank, sex.
"One heart beats in all, one mind guides all, one life is lived by
all."]
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs
according to the promise. [Paul's argument concludes by returning to
the theme of 3:7, 9, 14 and 16 - the identity of the true descendants of
Abraham. The argument turns on the identity of the Christian fellowship
with Christ. Physical descendants are no longer important, but those who
believe in Christ and belong to him. There is no longer any doubt about who can
lay claim to the promised Abrahamic inheritance - it is all those who
"belong to Christ." The promise of righteousness that God granted to
Abraham and his offspring is fulfilled. All those in Christ may lay claim to
God's promised gift.]
[Once again, the Law provides no proper means for
rightness with God. Rather, adoption as children of God, becoming part of the
children of Abraham through faith, is the key to rightness with God. For
Tolmie, 3:26-29 has the rhetorical purpose of reminding the Galatians of their
baptism as proof that they became children of God by faith. He uses an argument
based upon experience. Their baptism, an experience they cannot deny, already
makes them children of God and the seed of Abraham. Pannenberg stresses that
baptism and faith belong together. Baptism establishes fellowship with the
crucified and risen Lord. The righteousness of faith culminates in the event of
baptism because baptism mediates participation in the filial relation of Jesus
Christ to the Father. Baptism shows that people have received the missionary
proclamation of the church by faith. In a sense that Augustine and Aquinas recognized
clearly, baptism is the sacrament of faith. Baptism is the basis of the
adoption of believers as children of God and the word of righteousness of faith
relates to baptism. Baptism relativizes all human distinctions, not as an act
in itself, but because of the fellowship with Christ that it symbolizes.[7]]
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