As usual, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
7You were running well. Who cut in [on] you to not be
obeying the truth? 8This persuasion [is] not out of the one calling
you. 9‘A little leaven leavens the whole lump’. 10I am
persuaded concerning you in the Lord that you will think nothing differently
but the one troubling you, whoever he is, will bear the judgment. 11But,
brethren, if I am yet preaching circumcision, why am I yet being persecuted?
Consequently the scandal of the Cross is negated. 12O that the ones
opposing you would castrate themselves!
Concerning this passage of Scripture, there are a number of
observations I’d like to record. As always, if someone reading this wants an
actual commentary on the passage, there are hundreds available. My intent is
simply to record things that stood out to me.
Paul is beginning to wrap up his arguments in this book. On
the whole, it is notable to realize that Paul is in an emotional froth. If you
read the passage carefully and thoughtfully, you will quickly realize it is
seriously not linearly logical. It is, in a sense, a series of emotional
ejaculations all gathered in a heap. What that means is that, when we go to try
and understand what Paul is saying, we aren’t necessarily following a flow of
logic. In a sense, each sentence is an individual expression. Each one is
certainly deeply rooted in what Paul has been saying for five chapters; they
just aren’t necessarily in any logical order.
Verse 7 is interesting to me, especially having been a
runner myself for forty years. Paul says, “You were running well. Who cut in on
you?” There is quite a variety of translations trying to express the Greek verb
I have translated “cut in.” The word basically means to hinder, to impede,
etc., so it certainly and legitimately could be translated many ways. However,
in my own runner’s mind, there is no question what is the image in Paul’s mind.
To have someone “cut in” is almost too familiar to a runner. You’re going along
at a good speed heading for a great finish, then suddenly someone trying to
pass you “cuts in” too early, your feet get tangled, and down you go. If you’re
lucky, you find yourself “rolling through” it, almost like a somersault,
bounding back up and continuing down the course. But most of the time you just
end up flat on your face while the rest of the runners fly by. Usually it is
the end of the race for you. I’ve watched it happen in the Olympics and it’s
happened to me personally too many times. Since the context of the sentence is
running, then, as a runner, I don’t think there’s any question that is Paul’s
image. The Galatians were running a good race. But someone “cut in” on them and
now he sees his beloved friends flat on their faces, struggling to get back up,
and now way behind in a race they could have won.
On a purely technical note, I observe that verses 7, 8, and
10 each contain words which appear to be based on the root verb πειθώ. In v7,
it occurs as a Present M/P Infinitive almost universally translated “obey.” In
v8, it is a nominative feminine singular noun, usually translated “persuasion.”
In v10, it is a Perfect Active Indicative usually translated “am persuaded” or
“am confident.” What intrigues me is that of all the commentaries I consulted,
only John Calvin felt compelled to justify his translation in v7 as “obey.”
Actually if the word is “obey,” the root in v7 would be πειθομαι, not πειθώ. If
it is πειθώ, then it technically means
“to persuade.” which would be consistent with the “persuasion” of v8 and the
“am persuaded” of v10. The fact that Paul used (apparently) the same root three
times in four verses would lead you think he had “persuade” in mind in v7,
which then would lead him (even unconsciously) to “persuasion” words in the
verses immediately following. If in fact v7 is πειθώ, in agreement with vv 8
and 10, then the sentence should probably be translated something like, “Who cut in [on] you to not be being
persuaded [of the] the truth?” Then it would linguistically make perfect
sense for him to inject, “This persuasion
[is] not out of the one calling you,” and “I am persuaded concerning you…” In the end, I don’t think it
matters to the sense of the verse. I guess I’m mainly just surprised that no
one seemed to notice it. I go ahead and translate it “obey” partly to satisfy
the lemming deep inside me, but also because it makes more sense in English. If
you are persuaded, you will “obey” the persuasion. So perhaps there is no real
difference practically speaking. But then again, that is the business of
exegesis, the business of όρθοτομουντα, “cutting straight,” or “rightly
dividing” the Word of Truth. I just want to know exactly what God said (and
what He didn’t say) before I begin to draw conclusions and try to let His
thoughts mold mine.
Interesting too that Paul returns once again to the subject
of “truth.” Philosophically speaking, the presuppositional worldview behind
everything Paul is saying is his belief that there is objective truth. There is
true truth. The Galatians are
deviating from true truth. To do so will be at least frustrating and potentially
fatal. Of course today we live in a world that tells us there is no truth. Kant
and Nietzsche would have us believe our “truth” is simply a collection of
perceptions we have gathered based on our own unique history, experience,
culture, etc., so that everyone’s truth is just as true as everyone else’s. The
problem with this, of course, is if it is true that everyone’s “truth” is just
as true as everyone else’s, then in reality nothing is truly true. Life itself
is a mirage. Nothing at all can be known. One can only have perceptions but
those can’t really be valid because validity itself is only a perception.
Against all of that subjective demoralizing befuddlement,
the Bible opens with the statement, “In the beginning, God …” Before there even
were humans to “perceive,” there was an objective reality: God. God was there.
He was who He was. What was true of Him was purely true, completely independent
of anyone else’s perception. He created human beings into a universe of preexisting
truth. Truth was there before we were. As Mark Twain said, “The world owes you
nothing. It was here first.” The bottom line is that because God is, there is
truth. There is true truth and, while we must “perceive” it, it is not the
product of our perceptions but rather the subject. If our perception is in
error, then we are wrong.
As I mentioned above, to be wrong is at least frustrating
and potentially fatal. If I believe by putting my car in reverse it will go
forward, I am destined for trouble. Life will only “work” is I accept that,
whether I like it or not, if I want to go forward I must put my car in drive.
That is true truth and it stands objectively outside of my perceptions. Ultimately,
the reason why I must submit to true truth is because there is God. There is
objective reality.
While the philosophers philosophize, we scientists just go
on seeking to unlock the “secrets” of the universe. As an engineer, and it is
true for all real science, the entire foundation of our field is the belief that
the universe is run by “laws” which govern reality. F=ma. The point of the
scientific method is to propose truth (offer a hypothesis), then to so design
and conduct an experiment as to discover what is truly true. If you want to
know how big your water pipe should be, all you have to tell me is how much
water you want to run through it and how far. I can “size” your pipe for you.
Why? Because others before me investigated the truths of hydraulic flow,
recognized the laws that govern it, and thus were able to arrive at equations
which accurately predict it. When it comes to water flow, there is true truth.
And when you need to size water pipes, if you know the truth, the truth shall
set you free … to accurately size water pipes.
Back to Paul and our passage, it is precisely because there
is true truth that Paul is in such an emotional frenzy over the Galatians. They
had embraced the truth and were “running well” in it. But now they are
deviating from that truth. To embrace a world of law rather than grace is to
embrace error. It will at least be frustrating. It will be frustrating because
it will not “work.” The Galatians want to be happy. They want to have happy
families, good relationships, be successful in their work, and so on. But to
embrace legalism will make them critical, judgmental people. It will create
dissension in their church as everyone champions their own version of “the
rules.” It will hurt their families as their children see through the hypocrisy
and think they’re turning away from God when in reality they’re turning away
from someone else’s misperception of who God is. In the long run, of course,
legalism will so supplant grace that people will think they’re born again because
they “keep the rules” and never realize they’ve not been born again. As has
been said before, hell will be full of people who fell off supposedly
Bible-believing church pews.
Grace and grace alone is true. To believe anything else is
not to obey (or “be persuaded of”) the truth. And, again, in the short run it
will be frustrating. In the long run it can be (eternally) fatal.
I find I have a lot of other thoughts that arise from this
passage. But this blog is long enough, so I’ll post it and come back again.
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