Sunday, October 7, 2012

Galatians 5:7-12 – Scandal


Once again, 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!

In my last three posts I looked at verses 7-10. I have one last thought I’d like to record before moving on.

In verse 11, Paul says, But, brethren, if I am yet preaching circumcision, why am I yet being persecuted? Consequently the scandal of the Cross is negated.”  First of all, the question that crosses my mind is, “Who said you were?” Nowhere in the book has there been any intimation that Paul preaches circumcision. In fact, I would have assumed the opposite situation, that the Judaizers were demeaning Paul to the Galatians precisely because he did not preach circumcision. I think this is one of those cases where we simply have to remember we are reading someone else’s mail. The Scriptures were written “for our admonition” but, on the other hand, they were written by people to people in another time and place and sometimes we simply are not privy to everything that was going on. Not a biggee to me, just something that occasionally has to be acknowledged by serious exegetes – that there are a few places where we simply don’t know what was going on.

But what interests me here is the idea of the “scandal of the Cross.”

In I Cor 1:23, Paul says the Cross is “to the Jews a stumbling block.” Matthew Henry comments, “That which they were most offended at in Christianity was, that thereby circumcision, and the whole frame of the legal administration, were set aside, as no longer in force. This raised their greatest outcries against it, and stirred them up to oppose and persecute the professors of it.”

The scandal of the Cross is, in one sense its exclusivity. It brokes no competition. Whatever else one may propose, “It cannot be both.” The Jews could have probably born the preaching of grace if only they could bring along their works; but when someone (Paul) makes it clear that the Cross – grace – means that all their beloved and precious rites and traditions are worthless, their anger knows no limit – they’ll even crucify their Messiah over it!

People today are no different. I remember hearing once about a creationist and evolutionist who got to debating in a group. As the creationist calmly presented the scientific facts, the evolutionist, who had no defensible answers, grew more and more angry. Finally one of the evolutionsist’s friends commented to him, “Seems to me he’s messing with your religion.”

So it is. People, religious or not, get very angry if you “mess with their religion.” And again, I think that is what creates the “scandal of the Cross,” its exclusivity. Jesus said, “I am the way … no one comes to the Father but by Me.”  The way. No one.

It is the whole theme of this book but worth pointing out again that legalism is a case in point. The Judaizers would apparently say, “It is okay to believe in this Jesus thing and all of that … as long as you keep our rules.” But when the response is, “No, Jesus means your rules are worthless,” then the fangs and claws come out. It’s “messing with their religion.” And I would suggest therein we see the problem – their rules are their religion!

Only a sincere and complete acceptance of grace can deliver us from this dread business of someone “messing with our religion.” Grace strips away all of the externals and leaves me with nothing but a real relationship with God (or not). I would suggest that only from the platform of grace can we really live a life of unconditional love to our neighbors, a life where their offenses, their practices, even their “religion,” doesn’t “threaten” us.

I have said for years if Jesus were to have waited and come today, it is the fundamentalist church in America that would crucify Him. It is a sad reality that, while they supposedly “preach Christ” and think they are the champions of the Scriptures, yet, like the Pharisees of old, the practice of their religion is their vast array of rules, and as a result, they will ostracize and castigate anyone who would claim Christ yet not keep those precious rules. Rest assured they would even crucify their Messiah!

I sincerely hope that the “scandal of the Cross” is not a scandal in my heart. I hope I have sincerely put away all the competitors my evil heart endears, that my “religion” (if you can even call it that) is truly Christ and Him alone. I guess God help me to see where things are otherwise. May real grace in my heart help someone else to see past the “scandal” and may I bear it patiently when the scandal brings out the fangs and claws in others.

God help us.


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