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~*~
PAUL
argues with PETE:
SINCE you have come to the realization
that these works are insufficient for justification
and that what is necessary is FAITH,
why, then,
do you continue to insist
{or allow yourself to be bullied into insisting}
that WORKS are
necessary?
-
YOU THUS DEFEAT
the whole purpose of "mashiach's coming,"
which was to free us
from the practices of Israel in the flesh
by teaching us of their allegorical meaning
for Israel in the spirit,
through his crucifixion which revealed his own dual nature
and THUS figured OUR
TRANSFORMATION.
~*~
IT IS REALLY
only at the very end of his letter
that Paul reveals the application of the Antioch parable
to the Galatians situation:
"IT IS those people who wish to make a nice ppearance in the flesh that compel you to be circumcised - only so that they may not be persecuted because of the cross of Christ. For not even the circumcisers themselves
keep the Law, but they want you to be circumcised,
in order that they may boast
in your flesh"
according to GAL 6:12-13.
~*~
THIS is absolutely THE key passage
to the understanding of Paul's opponents in Galatia?!
IT has to be read in the context of Paul's narration of the events at Antioch, which as I emphasized above {NOT originally, of course}
is recited by Paul as an analogy, almost a typology,
of the events
in Galatia.
-
Paul's
opponents
are not actually Jewish Christians
who insist on circumcision for salvation
but essentially are in consonance with Paul's theology;
they hold that circumcision is NOT necessary.
When pressed, however, by the contemporary antitype
of the 'men from Ya'acov {JAMES},'
they have their gentile proselytes circumcised
in order to escape
PERSECUTION,
that very persecution
that Paul himself alludes to when he writes,
"BUT if I, my brothers, still preach circumcision,
WHY am I still persecuted?"
{GAL 5:11}.
-
THESE MEN, themselves,
do not keep the Law, nor do they intend that their converts will keep the Law - they are essentially in agreement with Paul - but they CAVE IN
to pressure from the conservative wing of
the Yerushalayim church?!
-
The analogy with Pete's behavior in Antioch is perfect,
as well as with Paul's charge against Peter:
HOW can you ask these people to be curcumcised when you do not yourself keep the Law?
THE charge is not of hypocrasy, but of not standing firm in THAT which is
absolutely essential to the "CHRISTIAN" message
in Paul's view.
-
As I have already observed,
the term 'boast' in Paul is often better translated 'have confidence in' or 'rely on' than 'boast about.'
PAUL is adamant in his integrity.
IF the Galatians accept circumcision,
the whole purpose of the Mashiach/Christ event is destroyed.
IT will all have been in vain.
When Paul tells them,
"LOOK, I, PAUL, tell you that if you become circumcised,
Christ will be of no benefit to you.
I testify again to every man who has become circumcised,
that he is obliged to do the whole Law"
{GAL 5:2-3},
HIS point is that by becoming circumcised they reject the message of the Law of Faith or th Law of Christ,
which he goes on to detail in the next &
final chapter.
-
Willy-nilly,
they will be acceding
to the Jewish Christian doctrine of Ya'acov/James
and his followers that only through entrance into the Law {that is, conversion to Judaism} can anyone
be saved?!
BY SHOWING
their lack of faith in the power of the cross to save,
they GIVE UP their right to salvation by the cross,
as opposed to Paul himself who writes,
"BUT FAR BE IT FROM ME to boast [again,
to have confidence in!]
anything but the cross of our Lord Yeshua haMashiach,
through which [the cross] the world has been crucified to me
and I to the world!"
{GAL 6:14}.
-
PAUL ends his letter
on a note of absolute insistence:
"FOR neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything,
but a NEW CREATION!"
{GAL 6:15}.
-
ONLY by entering
into the new creation of "Christ's spiritual body",
that is, into the NEW ISRAEL that came into existence
with the crucifixion
of his fleshly body, is ANYONE
SAVED.
-
When THAT fleshly,
Jewish body {born of a Jew, under the Law} was crucified,
THEN the new spiritual UNIVERSAL body was CREATED,
THUS erasing the difference between the circumcised and the
uncircumcised.
verliefd
engel
12 jun 2005 - bewerkt op 03 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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