Today, I’m going to conclude the continuing posts from the last couple of days on my upcoming podcast series, entitled “Galatians: Confronting Cultural Christianity.”
The Apostle Paul introduces his letter to the Gentile Christians in Galatia with these words -
“To the churches in Galatia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Gal. 1:3-5)
Notice that I have placed the phrase “the present evil age.” in italics. It’s a phrase pregnant with meaning, but the long and short of it is this - those who have trusted King Jesus as Lord have been delivered from this broken world, along with its social and economic injustices and divisions, and are now members of God’s eternal kingdom, a kingdom where everyone is equal, where all have a place at the table.
Yesterday, we looked at that verse in Ephesians 3:10, which refers to God’s manifold or multi-colored wisdom seen in Christ Jesus. This divine multi-colored wisdom is seen in what God has done through Christ or Messiah, Jesus. More than just the King of Israel, Jesus is the King of all people and cultures who trust in Him as Lord. Jesus fulfilled God’s calling for His people, Israel, making the Name of God known throughout the world, or nations, if you will.
Jesus has removed the walls of division between us. (See Ephesians 2:14-19) Through Christ, we are a testimony to a broken world of the goodness and justice of God’s Kingdom, a kingdom which is both here, right now, and will someday be fully established on earth - “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)
This is what Jesus meant when he prayed for us, His people, saying, “that all of them may be one . . . so that the world may believe . . . so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me.” (John 17:21-23)
The unity that Jesus is praying for in these verses is not unity through conformity; it is unity in the midst of diversity. Sadly, there are those, both now and then, that seek to impose a rigid conformity on God’s people. In doing so, they undermine the message of the Good News of God’s kingdom and pervert it for their own purposes.
This is Paul’s message throughout his letter to the Gentile Christians in Galatia. And it is a message that needs to be declared boldly in today’s church.
I don’t have time and space to completely unpack the message of Galatians in this post. I’ll do that through the upcoming podcasts. But here’s just a few of the things Paul has to say about those who pervert God’s multi-colored wisdom seen in the Good News of His Kingdom -
The gospel, or good news, they preach is no gospel at all, and by preaching it, they are perverting the true gospel. (Galatians 1:7)
Anyone preaching this perverted gospel is under God’s curse. (Galatians 1:8)
The Torah (commonly referred to by Paul as the “Law”) was God’s temporary covenant with Israel. It helped define them as God’s people. But God has established a new covenant with all people through Jesus. Yes, we still come to God through the Jews. As God promised Abraham, “I will bless all nations through you.” (Genesis 12:3) But God’s mission for the Jewish people to make His name known among the nations was accomplished through the one Jew, “the seed of Abraham” (not seeds, see Galatians 3:16)
Faith in Jesus as God’s anointed Messiah or Christ (the Greek word for Messiah or Anointed One) is the way we enter God’s Kingdom. We do not enter God’s Kingdom by becoming Jews or through Torah, which was, again, God’s temporary covenant with the Jewish people. Those who teach otherwise, requiring Gentiles to become Jews, are perverting the Good News of God’s Kingdom and are under God’s curse.
And just so you know how militant and confrontational Paul is in this letter, I want to share with you what he says about those Jewish Christians (he calls them false brothers) who were demanding that male Gentiles be circumcised thus abandoning their culture and becoming Jews under Torah. Are you sitting down?
“I wish those who are disturbing you (by requiring circumcision) might also get themselves castrated.” (Galatians 5:12) In other words, if cutting a little flesh is a good thing, why don’t they cut it all off!
This is just a taste of the fight Paul picks with those who preach Christian cultural conformity. And when we look at the many ways this cultural conformity is seen in today’s church, we realize just how timely the message of Galatians is in our day.
As followers of Jesus, we are not defined by the color of our skin, the house or apartment, or for that matter, hut, in which we live. We are not “good Christians” because of the political candidates we support. Neither do we define our faith by the denomination to which we belong or the traditions we observe.
As Christians, we are defined by one thing and one thing only. We are defined by our faith, our trusting allegiance to Jesus and God’s Kingdom, a kingdom which, after all others have turned to dust, will remain for now and forever.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.