All Paul Fall #2: Galatians
This is Part 2 of a 13-part series of brief reflections on the letters of Paul. These reflections are part of the Saturday Morning Prayer service for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral’s Facebook Live Ministry.
So why was the Law given?
Galatians 3:19a, 23-29 (Common English Bible)
Before faith came, we were guarded under the Law, locked up until faith that was coming would be revealed, so that the Law became our custodian until Christ so that we might be made righteous by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian.
You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.
Overview
Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with a dispute in the early church about whether non-Jewish converts to Christianity needed to take on a Jewish identity: keep kosher, follow the law, and, if male, get circumcised. As Paul often does, he sees this as a problem of unity, and he seeks to resolve it by giving a theological answer.
What about the Law?
Paul’s argument in Galatians is that salvation comes through faith, not through adherence to the Law. He argues that this has always been the case — and he cites the fact that Abraham’s faith was sufficient to merit God’s favor, and Abraham lived before Moses and the Law. If Abraham could receive God’s favor without the Law, so can we.
Paul is absolutely not denigrating the Law or Judaism. Indeed, Jews did not — and do not — see faith and Law as contrary. Rather, faith gives one the desire to follow the Law, and following the Law is a way of being in relationship with God. Paul teaches that the Law kept believers safe until Christ arrived; since Christ has come, we are no longer under the custody of the Law. So, Paul says, do not use the Law as an excuse to divide yourselves.
Ending distinctions among Christians.
The single most influential verse in Galatians is 3:28 — neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, only one in Christ. This is Paul’s appeal to an egalitarian unity for the church — his teaching is that our identity as member of Christ’s body overrides all of the other identities that might divide us.
No male or female?
Does Paul, perhaps, go even further? Did he mean to eliminate not only the hierarchal differences among Christians, but also our gender distinctions? Modern interpreters may read this text as advocating for a radical equality of the sexes, or even for the abolition of gender identity within the Christian community. Don’t dismiss these interpretations out of hand — it is a common mistake to read Paul’s statements about human and divine bodies as being figurative, when they are often meant literally. It still remains to be seen whether these interpretations will bear fruit, but we can clearly see why marginalized Christians throughout the ages have turned to Paul for support in their struggles for Christian equality.
