41 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
41 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
+++
|
||
title = "Galatians 6:11–18"
|
||
date = "2023-08-24"
|
||
+++
|
||
|
||
### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Galatians6.11-18)
|
||
|
||
In a at least one of Paul's letters, the secretary who took Paul's dictation
|
||
inserted himself into the letter to send his own greetings to the church. More
|
||
often, though, we see evidence that Paul pens his own conclusions to the
|
||
letters. To the Galatians, he tells us that we could see the large letters that
|
||
he wrote, if we had his original manuscript. (Now I wonder if any scribe tried
|
||
to capture this style when they copied the manuscript.) I can think of a couple
|
||
of good reasons why he would do this. In chapter 4, he mentioned that the
|
||
Galatians would have given him their eyes if they could, which implies that
|
||
there was something wrong with his own eyes. Perhaps his eyesight was poor or
|
||
became so, and the Galatians could see these large letters and know for sure he
|
||
wrote them.
|
||
|
||
Another possibility is that Paul really wants to draw attention to what he's
|
||
about to say. In the very next sentence he exposes the true motivations of the
|
||
ones trying to force the Galatians to become Jews. During the middle of the
|
||
first century, there was a movement of extreme Jewish nationalism. It's
|
||
adherents chafed mightily under Roman rule and were concerned about the
|
||
Hellenization encroaching on their way of life. They rebelled and agitated
|
||
enough that Rome eventually sent an army that sacked Jerusalem and completely
|
||
destroyed the temple in <span style="font-variant-caps:
|
||
small-caps">a.d.</span> 70. Before then, these nationalists would be opposed
|
||
to the church welcoming Gentiles into its number, so Paul says the Judaizer
|
||
party is trying to make the Gentile believers into Jews in order to appease the
|
||
nationalists.
|
||
|
||
Paul reiterates that circumcision in itself does not affect one's status. Even
|
||
those who trust in it can not keep the whole law. Instead, what counts is what
|
||
Christ has done on the cross and what He works through us because of that.
|
||
Nothing else matters in this world or the next, so let us make much of Him.
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
Your grace is more amazing than we can comprehend, and we are able to worship
|
||
You because of it.
|