“We” and “You” are important distinctions found throughout the letter of Paul to the Gentile churches in Galatia. It’s not uncommon for most readers to fail to distinguish between them. But it’s crucial in order to understand Paul’s reasoning in this letter.
“We” usually refers to Israel and its history with God. “You” refers to non-Israelites or Gentiles.
It’s important to keep this in mind as we read Galatians. Important because God’s ultimate purpose was much larger than the physical descendants of Abraham. Ultimately the “Israel of God,” as Paul refers to the church in Galatians 6:16, is made up of all who place their trust in Christ as Lord, both Jews and Gentiles.
As Paul states in Romans 2:28-29 - “A person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.”
In many ways, these two verses from Romans, written many years after Galatians, effectively sum up Paul’s entire argument in Galatians about Gentiles not needing to become Jews and observe Torah to be considered God’s people, God’s children.
As he lays out God’s unfolding purpose through history, Paul explains the purpose of the Sinai Covenant and the Law like this - “Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.” (3:23) The “we” in this verse refers to Israel.
Paul continues describing God’s purpose through Israel - “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” (3:24-25)
In other words, Israel no longer needs the Sinai Covenant, the Law. And if Israel doesn’t need it, neither do non-Israelites, like the Galatians.
In Galatians 2, Paul confronts Peter about his hypocritical behavior after strict Torah-observing Jews from Jerusalem showed up in Antioch. At first, Peter enjoyed eating with the Gentiles, but after these misguided Jewish Christians arrived, he began to withdraw from table fellowship with the Gentiles. Part of Paul’s rebuke of Peter includes this statement -
“If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law that I might live to God.” (Gal. 2:18-19)
What was destroyed that should never be rebuilt? The Law, the Sinai Covenant, with both its markers meant to distinguish Israel from her pagan neighbors (things like circumcision, dietary regulations, etc.) and its moral imperatives (don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t covet).
The fact is Jesus, throughout his ministry, demonstrated the temporary and passing purpose of these things. He took the external code of the moral law and made it an internal matter of the heart - “You have heard it said ‘Do not murder,’ but I say to you anyone who is angry with his brother is subject to judgment.’” (Matthew 5:21-21)
He also took the external code of the cultural markers and demonstrated its inability to affect real change - “‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.” (Mark 7:18-19)
In Galatians, chapter four, Paul is going to demonstrate that, like Israel, the Gentile Christians in Galatia were also slaves. But there is a difference. Israel was brought into slavery (or better stated - their slavery was made known) by the law. Pagan Gentiles were slaves of their idols. But the result was the same - both Jews and Gentiles are set free from this slavery by faith in Jesus Messiah. (More on this in next week’s podcast.)
Galatians 3:25-28 brings the “we” of Israel and the “you” of the Gentiles together. I want you to read these verses in the light of everything I’ve just said -
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ. (Galatians 3:25-28)
The final “you” in this verse includes all who have trusted Jesus, both Jews, and Gentiles. Paul is well on his way to hammering the final nail into the coffin of his argument that Gentiles don’t need to become Jews to be God’s children and heirs. All people, Jew or Gentile, come to Christ the same way, by trusting that Jesus did for them what they could not do.
This is what makes Galatians so relevant for us today. Whatever our history or cultural identity and markers, we all come to Jesus the same way, by faith. And it is through this trusting faith that we acknowledge and include others, all others, as brothers and sisters in Christ, members of His body, the church, and heirs of all of the promises of God.
In Christ,
Dan
Note: Concerning the “doing away” with the moral law as well as the cultural markers for Israel found in the Sinai Covenant, it is important to note what Paul says in Galatians 5:13 - “Do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh.” While we are no longer under the moral law that does not mean we aren’t to live moral lives. The truth is, because of the Spirit of Jesus living in us, we are able to live lives pleasing to God. Lives we could never live apart from faith in Jesus.
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