Tear Down the Walls: The People of Galatia

Scripture

Galatians 1:6–7 NASB95

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Me

The apostle Paul built with people. Peter said that the early followers of Jesus were the living stones. Paul did not build hope with bureaucracies or temples. But, he built with people. He invested the good news of Jesus Christ into them and then he would leave to establish a new people—a new community.

Let’s think of an imaginary scenario. Go to Tennessee in 1857. Tennessee was mostly of the south, but had a lot of influence from the north. Now, let’s say that I was able to build a community of people that were living up to the declaration of Independence: that all people were equal in this community—that women had equal rights as men, that there were no slaves and all were free. The rest of the nation did not have that hope. But, it was living there...

Now imagine a few years later, I receive word that some other leaders have come into that community that I built and are telling others that black people are really 3/5ths of a person and that only people who own property can have a say and that people need to be segregated.

Can you imagine how upsetting and disappointing that would have been?

And then, the Nation goes into chaos attempting to answer questions of equality and dignity through vicious violence. 100,000 Tennesseans join the confederate army and 54,000 join the north. And they proceed to kill each other for the next 5 years. The most recent estimates say 750,000 soldiers died in the Civil War.

And then the supposed peace is a tenuous arrangement that would supposedly free the slaves, but impede the progress of a whole race of people as the limping nation sought to rebuild.

Don’t you think that I would like to go back in time to 1857 and remind people that the unifying principle was Jesus Christ? Wouldn’t I want to go back and proclaim how his life, death and resurrection tore down these false walls of separation?

History is what has happened and it is easy to think that what has been needed to have happened. Or couldn’t be avoided.

But listen, there were 52,000 churches in the USA by the time of the Civil War. For every 14 soldiers who died, there was a church. And Embedded into every single one was this message:

Galatians 3:28–29 (NLT)

28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

But, they could not hear this message for the gospel had been tied to false hopes: the economy, the nation, pedigree, privilege and Manifest Destiny.

WE

It is 2020. Just as the gospel lost effectiveness because it was tied to false ideals and hopes in the 1800s, so it is happening today.

Gospel simply means “Good News”.

Some Christians have tied the gospel to Socialism, some have tied the gospel to Capitalism, some have tied the gospel to Nationalism, some of have tied the gospel to Activism while others to Denominationalism. And, every time this happens, the gospel is distorted and becomes no gospel at all.

Paul had been away from the churches in Galatia for only three years. But, in that three years a lot had taken place. He had to write sternly and with passion:

Galatians 1:6–10 (NASB95)

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

So, what had happened? To get a sense of it: we will answer the question I posed last week: Who were the Galatians?

Three things to know about the Galatians:

Galatia was a nation…and then not.

During the time of Paul, the region of Galatia was a Roman province. Which is kinda like a state—and kind of like a county. 300 years before Paul, the Gauls, a Celtic people had rebelled against Rome and huge amounts of them settled there in a new nation called Galatia.

Galatia was important to the Roman Empire

Notably, Pisidian Antioch was the principal city in the region of Galatia. About 75 years before Paul came through, it was re-established as a city where retired soldiers and officers of the Roman army could settle. By the time of Paul it was awash in Empire and Emperor worship. The Emperor at the time was Claudias who was an effective administrator who expanded the population of the Roman Empire by 20% in his 15 year reign. He stabilized the Empire when famine hit by acquiring corn.

In other words—Patriotism was high: for many Rome was living up to its promise: Peace and Prosperity. And this region of Galatia was awash in such heightened sentiments.

Paul marched right into such regions with a startling proclamation: Jesus is Lord. We are accustomed to this proclamation. We pray to “Lord” and call him “Lord of All.”

Wright helps us to understand how subversive Paul’s words were:

“Everybody else in Saul’s day, in regions from Spain to Syria, had to worship the goddess Roma and Kyrios Caesar, “Lord Caesar.” Augustus Caesar declared that his late adoptive father, Julius Caesar, was now divine, thus conveniently acquiring for himself the title divi filius, ‘son of the deified one,’ or in Greek simply huios theou, ‘son of god.’ His successors mostly followed suit.”

Paul marches in to the flag draped, Empire soaked, ex-military city that was brimming with Imperial hope and says, “The Crucified Jesus is Lord”.

Rome wanted peace. And supposed peace could only come when the status quo was upheld. Status Quo may have brought general security, but left women oppressed, the poor even poorer, slaves still slaves and the threat of violence as the only means of peace. Hence their practice of crucifixion. “If you don’t behave and honor the Empire and the Emperor (Caesar), you will be snuffed out. Sit down and shut up.”

Here’s Paul: Jesus is Lord and is making a new people out of you—he’s lifted up the poor and humbling the wise.

Jews lived under special rules in Galatia

Now, the Jews were living in with some special accommodations. They didn’t have to participate with the same Roman religious festivals. They were given some form of religious pass.

But, then Paul comes and starts to preach a message about Jesus being the savior and Lord for all people and the old customs of circumcision were no longer necessary. So, some Jews are embracing Jesus as their savior, but this new found freedom is creating tension with the local authorities. If the Jews aren’t really Jews any more (because they were setting aside their customs), there was fear of losing their special permissions and protections. Catch this: they were afraid of losing their religious freedoms.

So, some Jewish-Christians started to proclaim that Gentiles who trusted Jesus needed to honor the old customs—namely being circumcised.

But, connecting the new Jesus followers with the old tradition of circumcision would have created a misunderstanding of what Jesus came to do, a misunderstanding of the kind of community Jesus could create and a move backwards towards cultural or civic religion.

And so Paul wrote his corrective. He wanted nothing more than for every person to be able to access the astounding hope that Jesus brought—hope to men, women, slave, free, Jew and Gentile. And that hope would unify them beyond the tenuous hopes of the Empire.

Maybe it is this Jesus that Bree is meeting...

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The image of the man’s smile was in Bree’s mind as she awoke—still on the side of the road and not down at the river. She struggled to her feet and gazed down the slope towards the river. The rocky shore was there. The river was there. But no man. And no campfire.

Had it been a dream?

Warily she approached the river. Now on the shore, she looked more closely. No fire. No sign of a fire.

And no bacon.

She looked down river. A faint trail followed the edge of the river around the next bend. She sat on a large round rock and thought. The river’s rushing filled her ears, but as she closed her eyes she felt peace. That man’s eyes met hers again.

As she looked at him in her mind she felt as though he was father, a grandfather, a gentle doctor and a patience grade school teacher all at the same time. And his smile was earnest.

Bree opened her eyes surprised by how vivid her feelings were. It was like the instant feeling of freedom that one feels when you smell fresh cut grass or the first BBQ of the summer. That image in her mind meant so much in just a flash recall.

“What was that about?” she muttered.

“What was what about?”

Bree jumped to her feet and swung her backpack in front of her as a shield.

10 feet away up river the smiling man was there. He wore faded jeans and looked ready for a hike with his light backpack and sturdy tan boots on. He opened his hands towards her and said, “whoa there…its ok...”

Instinctively Bree stepped back. One step. Another...And then, tripping over that round rock she toppled and her world went black.

The man moved swiftly. With precision, he lifted her off the rocks, cupped her bleeding head and jogged towards the trail down river. Along the trail, he whispered in a strange language. If you could understand those strange syllables you would have heard an ancient prayer.

In our language it is:

Jeremiah 29:12–14 NLT

In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

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Could it be that Jesus is taking us down a path that is foreign to us? Off the beaten path of typical American dreams? Could it be that we are like Bree—lost, but willing to go to where he wants? Could it be that there is a longing building in his for the true gospel of Jesus?

Could it be that we are discovering the gospel of Jesus beyond personal forgiveness? Perhaps we are discovering a Jesus that answers the tectonic questions of human existence.

Rome tried to answer them. But ended up with crosses and snuffing out rebellions with violence that repulses us.

The gospel of grace is not only about atonement and forgiveness through faith, but it includes significant power to answer the questions that every Empire or regime has been trying to answer: peace?, unity?, diversity?, equality?, provision?, justice? hope?.

To pervert the gospel of Jesus by adding to it is to relegate it to a cultural or religious artifact: powerless except as it retains status quo when in fact it is status quo that needs to be toppled so that a new hope can emerge. Rome (like all governments) was trying to maintain their fragile status quo and were not threatened or really even critiqued by the Jews. But, the Lordship of Jesus did. Rome wanted Jews. the Jews wanted Jews.

That was status quo.

But, Jesus came to create a new humanity under his Lordship. Which breaks status quo.

Application This week:

Read our Daily Devotions

Participate with Community Group

Do not be distracted by the election.

Discussion Questions:

Read Galatians 3:28-29 3 times out loud.

If Galatians 3:28-29 was the only scripture you had, what is the gospel?

Read Galatians 1:6-10 out loud.

What does status quo mean?

Draw parallels between the province of Galatia and our present situation.

Bree felt drawn to this man—how did she describe him? What do you think she meant by those reflections?