Image from go.iu.edu
We are still in Go!, Galatians. This morning I read chapter 4, and these are the reflections from that passage:
Paul continues to stress his belief that those who had failed prey to the new teachings of observing and living under the law, are now slaves to the law, when indeed, they, because of the grace in Christ Jesus, should be living as free people. Those living under the law, Paul argues, are missing out on everything. Those under the law are not free, living as slaves and missing out on the inheritance that is theirs, as the real children of God, the ones saved by grace.
Paul wonders what has happened to the Galatians who once welcome Paul "as an angel of God," and treated him "as if I were Christ Jesus Himself." They now regard Paul as an enemy. They have gone from being loving people, who would have "torn out their eyes to share them with me," to being these who are suspicious of him and his teachings. Paul believes they prefer the lie, to the truth that he has shared.
The Galatians are now convinced they should live in observance of the law, which, Paul believes, is only alienating them from the true way. Paul uses the example of Hagar and Sarah as a means of illustrating how much they are missing by living as those who observe the law and not living under God's grace. Hagar, he knows, was the mother of the slave child, and represents Jerusalem of old; while Sarah and her child is the "Jerusalem from above," free and living in the fullness of life offered by God through Jesus Christ.
GO AND GROW PRAYER: Awesome God, may we not becomes slaves to rituals, observances, and traditions that beyond structure offer no power for our faith. Help us to know and claim that our power to live comes from You and Your Holy Spirit that shares with us grace as our strength for the living of these days. In Jesus we pray, amen.
