Choosing Your Path

Is it what you do or why you do it that counts?

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love. You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. But my friends, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves! For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. - Galatians 5:1-15

Paul is making a case for not becoming a Jew.  If you let yourselves be circumcised you will be choosing to follow the law, and you will be subject to the law.

But you don't have to do that to be a follower of Christ.

The churches in Galatia were being told they had to be Jewish to to followers of Christ, but Paul is saying that isn't true.  For him, a devout Jew, that would be taking a step backward.

To Paul, who was converted in a vision of Christ, the Way of Christ is the next step for humanity, God bringing us closer to God.

So, why go backwards to go forward?

Sometimes we choose to be subject to more rues than we need to.  Maybe we like the discipline or need it to stay the course.  But Paul is appealing to those who have not known such discipline.  He wants them to choose to love on another in Christ, without having to first be taught the laws that Christ overcame.

One can see why the leaders of the Jewish faith were opposed to him, and why some of the Jewish Christians, those who became followers from Judaism, want others to first become Jewish.

If Christianity is the next step in the faith then why not adopt the faith first?

The argument is logical, but in Paul's eyes, impractical.

Let's just cut to the chase, he is saying, and for us who came to Christ directly, it makes sense.

More to come...