In yesterday’s podcast, entitled, “Another Gospel,” we looked at Paul’s opening words to the Gentile Christians in Galatia after his initial greeting. And to put it mildly, Paul is fighting mad. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. And Paul opens the body of his letter with what one might call an aggressive, wide-open, high octane offense. Perhaps a better metaphor would be to say Paul comes out swinging!
His first jab is thrown at the Galatian Christians, who he calls deserters. The word he uses refers to military or political desertion. The Galatians, Paul warns, are deserting “the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ.” In other words, they are deserting God and His kingdom.
I talked about this in last week’s podcast, “This Present Evil Age and God’s Kingdom,” but God’s grace in Christ is more than simply salvation by faith apart from works. God’s grace in Christ is seen in His bringing together in one family all those who believe in Jesus. This is why Paul refers to those Jewish Christians who were trying to compel Gentiles to become Jews in order to be fully accepted as God’s people as false brothers.1 (See Galatians 2:4)
Sometimes, in order to get through to the ones we love, we have to say things that hurt. Paul does that in these opening words, but his real wrath is reserved for those false teachers who he says are perverting the good news of Jesus with their two-tiered approach to membership in God’s family. The message of these false brothers was not so much a “who’s in, who’s out” message, as it was “who’s fully committed, and who’s not.” In that sense, it is a “who’s fully in,” and “who’s not” message.
Then there’s that phrase “people-pleaser,” or literally, “man-pleaser.” It has a rich Jewish history and was known well to strict Pharisees like Paul had once been. The Psalms of Solomon may not have been Scripture, but they were highly revered by Pharisees living in a day when so many Jews were compromising their faith as Hellenistic or Greek culture was sweeping the world.
Psalm 4:19 from the Psalms of Solomon says, “May the flesh of the men-pleasers be scattered by wild beasts, and may the bones of the transgressors of the law lie before the sun in dishonor.”
The man-pleasers were those who compromised their faith and commitment to God. They were sell-outs. They associated and enjoyed fellowship with Gentiles, who were referred to as “sinners.” This is why in Acts 10, Peter says to the God-fearer, Cornelius, “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.” (Acts 10:28)
The Jews in Galatia were accusing Paul of being a man-pleaser. Both his no-holds-barred opening to this letter and what he says throughout clearly indicate that he was in no way compromising his commitment to Christ or the gospel. It was the other way around - the false teachers trying to put another notch on their copies of the Torah were the real people-pleasers. And Paul hits them hard with this charge later.
But the question remains - what does any of this have to do with us today? Let me toss something out for you to ponder.
It is no understatement to say that our world is experiencing a cultural revolution. If you were to follow the debates in churches for the last fifty years, you would discover that some major issues leading to church splits and the removal of some members from church roles have been focused on things like movies, music, what clothes to wear in and out of the church, alcohol consumption, divorce, the use of certain Bible translations, women in ministry, and a multitude of issues that have often challenged the ways and thinking of many churches and denominations.
To be sure, there are some issues out there for which we, as Christians, must take stands that are counter-cultural and that bring disdain from others in our society. But not all. And what bothers me is how easily some tag the term “people-pleaser” or “liberal” onto other believers who are anything but, and who are paying a high price as they seek to follow the Spirit of Christ and demonstrate God’s grace to people who desperately need it.
The grace of God in Christ Jesus begins from within, in our hearts, and is seen in our attitudes and behaviors toward others in the family of God. We may not be able to speak with the same apostolic authority of Paul, but we can demonstrate the humility that is the sign of God’s grace in our lives.
Remember the words of James 4:6 which tell us that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
In Christ,
Dan
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Some translations, like the NIV, which I often use, translate the literal Greek “false brothers” as “false believers.” This assumes as many do, that the Jews in Galatia were not believers in Jesus as Messiah. I disagree. By calling them “false brothers,” Paul is directly confronting their perversion of God’s grace by insisting that full membership in the family of God required adopting Jewish culture, customs, and ways. There were many God-fearers among Gentiles in that day. These God-fearers worshiped and revered the God of Israel but were not considered full converts to Judaism and children of Abraham. These Jewish Christians considered the Gentile Christians in Galatia as being less than full family members. This is why Paul calls them false brothers or false family members if you will.