[5:8–9]
Here Paul touches on the same issue, but with a new and more positive nuance. The Greek does not say the one who called you in the past tense, as the NABRE has it (as in 1:6), but rather “the one who is calling you,” in the present tense to indicate that God in his goodness continues to call the Galatians to communion with himself. Then Paul quotes a proverb: A little yeast leavens the whole batch. The proverb contrasts the small amount of yeast with the large quantity of dough that is affected.7 Through this remark about the small amount of yeast, Paul may be seeking to minimize the number of those responsible for the Galatians’ error, lessening the community’s guilt. At the same time, he implies that they should get rid of the harmful yeast (1 Cor 5:5–7), just as Israel eliminated the old yeast at Passover time (Exod 12:15, 19; 13:7).
[5:10]
This possibility is strengthened as Paul, on the one hand, expresses confidence regarding the response of the Galatians and, on the other hand, announces the future condemnation of the troublemaker. As to the response of the Galatians, Paul is confident that they will not take a different view from his. As regards the origin of the upheaval in the community, we see a difference here from Paul’s earlier affirmation about “some” who were disturbing them (1:7). In this passage Paul uses the singular, the one who is troubling you, and adds, whoever he may be, either indicating that he did not know the individual’s name or that his condemnation focuses on the action rather than the particular person. His statement shows a desire to blame only the one person who is principally responsible for the whole situation and to be lenient with the other members of the community.
[5:11]
Paul returns to the main issue of circumcision in the final words of this section. He pushes back against what seems to be an audacious insinuation that Paul himself had no objection to the circumcision of †Gentile Christians and even taught it himself at times. Paul responds to this false claim with a fact that refutes it: he has been persecuted by the Jews (see 2 Cor 11:24, 26). If he were still preaching circumcision, he would not be persecuted by them at all.8
Now comes an abrupt declaration about the cross: In that case, the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. In order to understand this statement, it is necessary to supply a few points that are implicit. If Paul had still been preaching circumcision, his preaching would have constituted a path of salvation different from and incompatible with the one opened up by the cross of Christ (Gal 5:2, 4). Teaching Gentile Christians to be circumcised would have denied the sole efficacy of the cross and encouraged people to avoid its offensiveness. From the human point of view, the cross is a stumbling block or offense9 (see 1 Cor 1:17, 22–23), but it is an offense that absolutely must be retained, since the cross is the irreplaceable instrument of our salvation (see 1 Cor 1:24–25).
[5:12]
To demonstrate his opposition to circumcision in the clearest way, the Apostle ends with a harsh wish directed at those who were advocating it: Would that those who are upsetting you might also castrate themselves! Of course Paul does not mean this literally, but there are circumstances when strong language is fitting. In this case the truth of the †gospel and the very salvation of the Galatian Christians were under threat. In this way Paul definitively dismisses the †Judaizers who were causing havoc in his communities.
Summary of Doctrinal Presentation (3:1–5:12)
This exhortation (5:1–12) concludes the doctrinal section (3:1–5:12) of the Letter to the Galatians, in which the Apostle has laid out with stupendous depth his theological teaching about the relationship between †law and †faith and about the mystery of Christ and its realization in the lives of believers. Above all he highlights the foundation of Christian life—that is, the free gift of †justification that results from adhering to Christ in faith—and the implication for the extension of the people of God among all †nations, namely, that †Gentiles need not live as Jews to belong to Christ.
The theological content in this section is very rich. The Apostle seeks to persuade the Galatians not to pursue justification, the divine blessing, or the †inheritance promised to Abraham’s descendants by submitting to the law. By “law” Paul refers especially to the legislative system of the Jewish people and, in particular, the †ritual prescriptions of the law that functioned as markers of Jewish identity (circumcision, calendar, and dietary regulations). Nevertheless, what is said about the law applies to every other work by which a person might seek to justify or save himself or herself (see Eph 2:8–9). The only way forward is faith, which leads us to cling to Christ; it frees us from the curse of the law and brings us the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s first argument is that of the experience of Christian conversion (Gal 3:2–5). When the Galatians came to faith, they received the Holy Spirit, whose presence was clearly manifested by “mighty deeds” (3:5)—namely, miracles. In this powerful experience (3:4), the observance of the Jewish law played no part, for the simple reason that the Galatians did not know the law. At the beginning of their evangelization, Paul was not concerned to teach the law of Moses.10 He preached only Christ and his paschal mystery. He proclaimed that Christ “gave himself for our sins” (1:4) and that he was “crucified” (3:1) and then “raised . . . from the dead” (1:1). The only thing required of the Galatians was to accept this message in faith. It was therefore inconsistent with the Galatians’ Christian experience to attribute a saving importance to legal observances, especially those pertaining to the body, such as circumcision and dietary proscriptions. The Spirit had raised them to a higher kind of life (3:3; 4:9, 26).
This first argument is then confirmed and reinforced by arguments from Scripture, especially by reference to Gen 15:6, establishing a clear relationship between Abraham’s act of faith and God’s crediting it to him as righteousness (Gal 3:6). To obtain a right relationship with God, no work was required of Abraham beyond his receiving a word from God in faith. Abraham serves as a paradigm for non-Jews as well as Jews, since another passage in Scripture says that all the nations will be blessed in him (Gen 12:3; see Gal 3:8). Paul sees a profound connection between this blessing, justification, and the gift of the Spirit. In fact, justification is the initial blessing that opens the way for many other blessings. The one who makes justification effective is the Spirit (1 Cor 6:11), who then transforms believers’ whole lives by placing them in an intimate relationship with the Son and the Father (see Gal 4:6).
LIVING TRADITION
Deep Magic in Narnia
Christian artists never tire of finding new ways to recall the mystery of Christ’s saving death and resurrection. C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a novel for children of all ages, is a marvelous example.
Edmund has betrayed his friends to the Witch, a Satan-like figure. She asserts her claim to his life on the basis of the Deep Magic that God, the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea, established. Addressing Aslan, the great lion who represents Christ in the Narnia novels, she says, “You at least know the magic which the Emperor put into Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I have a right to kill.”a Aslan acknowledges her claim and offers his own life in exchange for Edmund’s, a substitution that the Witch gleefully accepts. She humiliates and finally slays the great lion on the Stone Table.
Later Susan and Lucy find the Stone Table broken and the lion’s body gone. Aslan comes up behind them and speaks, arousing in them first fear and then great joy.
“Aren’t you dead then, dear Aslan?” said Lucy.
“Not now,” said Aslan. . . .
“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.
“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of Time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a
different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.”b
a. C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (New York: Collier, 1970), 138–39. Like every artistic representation of our redemption, this story presents only an analogy whose details should not be pressed for an exact correspondence.
b. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 159–60.
To place one’s trust in observing the law is deadly because the law curses and condemns those who do not conform to its prescriptions (3:10). On their own, human beings could not escape the curse of the law because they were sinners. Christ, however, has changed the spiritual situation of humanity because he has taken on himself the curse of the law in such a way that he freed us from it and has made his blessing overflow to us (3:13–14). The key to this paradox is that Christ became a curse “for us” (3:13)—that is, out of love for us (2:20) in perfect conformity to the will of the Father (1:4). When the curse is confronted and accepted by the One who did not deserve it and is endured purely out of obedience to the Father and love for his brothers and sisters, its effect is reversed. Instead of the alienation and death that belong to the curse, Jesus’ death on the cross opens the way to reconciliation and life in communion. There is now the possibility of escaping the curse of the law. It consists in accepting with faith the redemption accomplished by the love of Christ, which is the realization of the promise of blessing made to Abraham for the benefit of his descendants and of all nations.
The connection between the law and the promise requires an explanation. Paul notes that the promise came before the law, so its validity does not depend on the law (3:15–17). The law can neither prevent the fulfillment of the promise nor bestow what was promised. The law cannot bestow justification, because it can only impose the sentence of death on a transgressor; it is not able to communicate new life or make the transgressor a righteous person (3:21).
The law does no more than reveal the dire situation of sinful humanity, causing people to pass from a more or less hidden state of guilt to a state of manifest transgression (3:19). This revelation of sin is, however, useful. By showing people their powerlessness, it can prepare them to welcome the Savior, thus clearing a path for faith (3:22–23).
The power of faith in Christ is wonderful. It frees us from subservience to the law because it makes us children of God in Christ (3:26). The sign of this sonship is the active presence in our hearts of the Spirit of the Son (4:6). Union with Christ through faith occurs at so deep a level that the distinction that existed between Jews and other nationalities in relationship to God completely disappears, as does every other distinction (3:28).
In salvation history two periods must be distinguished. The old period is one of guardianship under the dominion of the law of Moses, which is also the dominion of “the †elemental powers of the world” (4:3), since the law contains many material proscriptions such as dietary observances. The new period, introduced by the sending of God’s Son and the Spirit, is that of freedom (4:5; 5:1) and adoption as sons and daughters (4:5–7). To illustrate this distinction Paul presents a †typological interpretation of Sarah and Hagar (4:21–31). For a Christian to seek justification by keeping the law (5:4) would be a lamentable step backward—indeed, a break with Christ. The only basis for justification is faith in Christ. The whole of Christian life is built on this foundation: it is “faith working through love” (5:6).
1. Gal 3:18, 29; 4:7, 30; 5:21; other texts explicitly link hope with the inheritance: Eph 1:18; 1 Pet 1:3–4.
2. See Rom 5:1, 9; 1 Cor 6:11.
3. Some interpreters do not think it possible that Paul would speak about final justification this way, and therefore they interpret the text as saying, “We await the hope that springs from righteousness.” While possible, this translation seems forced. Besides, Paul clearly speaks of the relationship of righteousness to justification at the final judgment in Rom 2:5–16 and alludes to it in other texts (Rom 14:10; 1 Cor 4:3–5; 2 Cor 5:10).
4. See Matt 25:31–34; John 5:29; Rom 2:5–8; 2 Cor 5:10; James 2:14–26.
5. This reflection is drawn from Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, Il pane quotidiano della Parola: Commento alle letture feriali della Messa ciclo I e II (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 1994), 731–32.
6. Vanhoye, Il pane quotidiano della Parola, 727–28.
7. This proverb appears again in 1 Cor 5:6, where the action of the yeast also stands for something that is not positive but rather a pernicious fermentation, a “troubling” of the community (see Gal 1:7; 5:10). Jesus uses the metaphor of yeast both positively, to describe the growth of the kingdom (Matt 13:33), and negatively, to describe the influence of the teaching of the Pharisees (Matt 16:6, 11–12).
8. Some Jews in Paul’s day did preach conversion to Judaism through circumcision and observance of the †law of Moses (Matt 23:15; Acts 15:21), but Paul was not one of them.
9. Greek skandalon, from which comes the English “scandal.”
10. Eventually, of course, Paul’s churches became thoroughly acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures (1 Tim 4:13; 2 Tim 3:16–17). Galatians itself and other New Testament books directed primarily to Gentiles (e.g., Mark, Luke, Acts, John, 1–2 Corinthians, Ephesians, 1–2 Peter, Revelation) require a deep familiarity with the Old Testament. It is likely that the early Christian congregations acquired this familiarity by following the synagogue practice of public reading and explanation of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Part 3
Exhortation about How to Live as a Christian
Galatians 5:13–6:10
From here on Paul gives more-specific teaching about Christian living, a life of true freedom, and rejects some misconceptions of what this freedom means. To have an accurate understanding of Paul’s theology in Galatians, it is necessary to hold together his doctrinal teaching (3:1–5:12) and his practical instruction (5:13–6:10).
By itself, the presence of an entire section devoted to exhortation indicates something important, since otherwise one could easily conclude that Paul’s †gospel does not entail any teaching about conduct, but only a proclamation of the †faith that †justifies without works. Rather, Paul demonstrates that salvation by faith does not mean that people are saved merely through knowledge of the truth, which was the claim of certain pagan mystery religions and later of the heretical Gnostics. Nor is faith to be equated with mere assent to the truth or a powerful spiritual experience. Instead, faith involves the whole person and is intended to bring about a complete transformation. It requires a commitment not merely of the intellect but also of the will and the affections, and it expresses itself in action. Galatians 5:6 says that what “counts” is “faith working through love.” This is why when Paul preaches faith he always includes a call to †live by faith.
Theologians sometimes distinguish two aspects of Paul’s teaching by noting a change in his predominant usage from †indicative verbs, which present the facts of a situation (e.g., “As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts,” 4:6), to †imperative verbs, which summon readers to appropriate action in response (e.g., “Serve one another,” “Bear one another’s burdens,” 5:13 and 6:2). Paul uses indicative verbs to tell about the gift of God, then follows with imperative verbs that instruct readers how to respond. What is stated in the indicative is always the foundation: it announces what God has done and what he has given to human beings, the radical transformation that Christ has accomplished. However, the indicative is not enough. God’s gifts need to be received. Since these gifts convey life and activity, they cannot be received without human action that corresponds to the divine gift. God’s gift of inner transformation always precedes and indeed makes possible our change in behavior.
In this respect the life of faith differs from life under the †law. It is true that under the law of Moses there was also an indicative that preceded t
he imperative. In the account of the Sinai †covenant, God’s saving actions on behalf of Israel, his gifts (Exod 19:4; 20:2), are recalled before the commandments are imposed (20:3–17). However, there is an important difference. Under the first covenant, the gifts of God that preceded his commands were external interventions culminating in the exodus. There was no inner transformation of the people; the connection between the indicative and the imperative remained external. People needed to act according to the imperative, and if they did so they were considered righteous. In contrast, in the New Covenant, the indicative that comes first also includes interior transformation, a righteousness freely given by God in the Holy Spirit, and this interior gift is what makes it possible for his New Covenant people to do his will, to live out the imperatives of apostolic teaching.
Paul’s writing in this section, as often in Galatians, seems rather spontaneous and improvised rather than carefully planned, requiring effort to understand the coherence of his thought. For example, Paul says that Christians are called to freedom (Gal 5:13) but in the same verse exhorts them to make themselves slaves of one another (the literal meaning of the Greek), which at first glance seems a contradiction. Then, having proclaimed freedom from the law, Paul presents fulfilling the law as an ideal (5:14), and then again says, “You are not under law” (5:18). In 6:2 the Apostle says, “Bear one another’s burdens,” but he affirms in 6:5 that “each will bear his own load.” Paul does not seem concerned to express his ideas clearly enough to eliminate every possible confusion. Because of his manner of expressing himself, it is easy to draw false, incomplete, or one-sided conclusions from Paul’s letters, as St. Peter observes in 2 Pet 3:16. Instead of seeking precision in his wording, Paul goes off first in one direction and then in the opposite direction. The result for the reader who succeeds at following the twists and turns of his logic is a certain equilibrium that is full of lively tensions, dynamic rather than static.
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