Pentecost Lectionary Readings: Hopping and Skipping Through Galatians Part 5

As we continue with an effort to fill in the material that gets left out of the Sunday readings from Galatians, this week we skipped over Chapter 4 in its entirety, moved on to Chapter 5 and heard another section that got chopped up, Galatians 5:1,13-25,

"For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit."

At least Paul's warnings about the works of the flesh survived the cut.

Let's see what got left out: verses 2-12 in which Paul gets testy for one thing,

"Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. But my friends, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offence of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!"

Leaving out the section on circumcision does not help the occasional Sunday church goer understand the problem with the Galatians in the first place, and not knowing the background issue makes Paul's arguments all the more difficult to follow.

Paul's reference to the yeast leavening the whole batch of dough hearkens back to Jesus' warning to,

“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6

For our era Paul might say, "Who persuaded you that my teachings on human sexuality were in error? A spoonful of ideas like that can bubble up and spoil the whole of scripture."

Recall that I mentioned that the lectionary schedule omitted Chapter 4. In it we see the method of reasoning that Paul uses when trying to change the Galatians minds. First he elucidates his take on the law and enslavement,

Galatians 4
"My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?"

Next, he makes a point that always rings true this time of year,

"How can you want to be enslaved to them again? You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted."

From the Anglophile Channel

And he gets personal,

"Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you; though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What has become of the goodwill you felt?" 

The "physical infirmity" he refers to must be the blindness he experienced during his road to Damascus trip,

"For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. "

Yep, that was it.

He stays on the personal approach,

"Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them. It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you."

Paul seems to understand that face to face communication is usually the best way to resolve a conflict, but since he cannot be face to face, he goes on presenting his rationale,

"Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,   burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous   than the children of the one who is married.’"

He finishes by using this O.T. reference as his advice for dealing with those who are leading the Galatians astray,

Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac. But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the scripture say? ‘Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.’ So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman.

Hopefully these pages will help Sunday pewsitters fill in the gaps.