Galatians 3. 27 – 4. 7
I’m not a fan of conflict or arguments, and am baffled by those who are. Paul certainly got stuck in when he wanted to, and the letter to the Galatians is, in one sense, a long argument. There may be only one person speaking, but he puts the other side pretty well. At its heart is the question of whether Gentiles who have become Christians should become Jews by submitting to the requirements of the law and its interpretation. Paul did not found the churches in Galatia to think that, but after his time people have come and told them that they have to.
This enables Paul to spell out the basis of our salvation: by faith alone, and rooted in the message at the heart of the season of Christmas: God who takes flesh in Jesus Christ enfolds all of humanity into the love of God by grace through faith. But it’s an argument and I don’t like them really. Some disputatious people clearly do: Martin Luther loved Galatians, and John Bunyan, no stranger to an argument, said that his favourite book after the Bible was Luther’s commentary on Galatians.
I cannot deny though that out of the white heat of the argument come some of the verses of the Bible which are most important to me and which have stuck in my memory.
2.16: Justified by faith
2.20: it is no longer I who live……the Son of God who loved me…
3. 26 ff All children of God through faith…baptised into Christ…no longer Jew nor Greek…
4. 6 Abba, father…
5.1 It is for freedom Christ has set us free
5.13 Through love become slaves to one another
5. 22 The fruit of the Spirit
6.9 Not grow weary in doing what is right
6.14 Not boast in anything except the cross
6.15 the new creation.
And this passage is at the heart of our identity as a Christian. It is the Epistle reading for Christmas 1 in the Book of Common Prayer, though I am grateful that our reading tonight begins a little earlier than the BCP. It is all about who we were, what we have become, and the way in which we live as a result.
Who were we? Without Christ: slaves, or even an heir who has not yet inherited. We are Prince Charles…under the influence of things over which we have no control (v.3)
Who are we? We are those who, baptised into Christ, are clothed with Christ, and are therefore all one in him. In Christ we are the heir who has inherited. This is about the status of the eldest son – and we are adopted as sons (in this legal framework), whoever we are. The Greek is all about sons and the male child, but Paul is clear that all of us inherit. That’s why it’s good that we began with his statement that whether we are Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, we are all one in Christ, and all children of God. Modern translations use the word child, but in the legal terms of Paul’s day we are all the first born son, the heir who inherits.
We have been redeemed – pronounced innocent, our debt cancelled, our mortgage paid, our bills wiped out…and we have been received. No longer required to use the servants’ entrance, we walk right through the front door. The house is ours because Jesus was born fully human (of a woman) and subject to everything we are subject to (under the law). From within our condition Jesus conquers our condition. In him, that’s us too.
Therefore we experience the reality of the legal status which has been pronounced. Not only do we have the status of children – the heir – we are empowered to say ‘Abba’ – expressing every aspect of the son and heir to the father.
Therefore we are called to live what we have become: to accept the gift of Christ whose death means nothing separates us from God; to recognise our status as an adopted heir – with everything the father gives; and to live in the power of the Spirit. The birth of the one born of a woman opens the life of God for all. Paul’s argument with those who wanted Christians to be subject to the Jewish law becomes a manifesto for living the Spirit filled Christian life of liberation, set free to be slaves to the God in whose service is perfect freedom. That’s a message for life, not just for Christmas.