Tag: galatians

JAMES 2

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

There are two main types of sermons or Bible lessons: topical where a topic is studied and expository where a text is analyzed in depth as to meaning and application. The book of James is definitely a topical study. James, the half-brother of Jesus was a key leader or pillar in the church in Jerusalem. He was not a believer in Jesus until after the resurrected Jesus appeared to him (1 Corinthians 15:7).

One incident that tells us about the mindset of James is found in Galatians 2. AI: ” in Galatians 2, men sent (to Antioch) from James in Jerusalem caused Peter (Cephas) to stop eating with Gentile Christians in Antioch, leading to a public confrontation with Paul, who accused them of hypocrisy and compromising the gospel’s truth that justification comes by faith, not works of the Law. Peter’s fear of those insisting on circumcision led him to withdraw, influencing other Jewish believers and Barnabas to do the same, creating a division and effectively compelling Gentiles to live as Jews.” At the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15, James had actually agreed that the Gentile Christians did not have to be circumcised or keep the Law (although he specified 4 things they should not do in order to not offend their Gentile brethren). Surely James would have agreed that salvation is by grace through faith and not works, but in Galatians 2 why is he telling Jewish Christians in Antioch not to eat with Gentile Christians. Jewish Christians continued to keep the Law up to 70 AD, but did the Law actually prohibit Jews from eating with Gentiles? AI:”Under Jewish Law (Torah), there wasn’t a direct prohibition against Jews eating with Gentiles, but Second Temple era rabbinic traditions developed strong customs, like avoiding Gentiles’ bread, wine, or food cooked by them, to prevent intermarriage and assimilation, creating social barriers that early Christians like Paul strongly challenged as contrary to the Gospel’s message of unity. While the written Law didn’t forbid it, the oral traditions and customs made communal dining a significant issue, as seen in Acts 10 and Galatians 2, where Peter and Paul debated the practice.” Well said, AI (no doubt information taken from an unknown article without credit which keeps me from giving credit to a source). So James is pushing Jewish oral tradition which Paul says that he should not have done and that was causing division among the believers. Paul himself kept the Law as a Jewish Christian, so Paul would not have opposed James if James was simply demanding that Jewish Christians keep the Law, if indeed the Law forbade eating with Gentiles which it did not actually do. But obviously Paul did not consider that to be part of the Law, and said that pushing that oral tradition was binding of tradition on others. A sign of legalism (trusting in works and not grace) is when someone binds tradition or opinions on others in non-essential doctrines. Paul taught strongly against such legalism when it came to circumcision of Gentile Christians, and he defended Christian liberty in the incident in Galations 2 in reference to Jewish Christians eating with Gentile Christians.

All that to say that James’ mindset was to speak against what he perceived to be sins in the church among the scattered Jewish Christians across the Roman Empire (the diaspora). In the book of James, he does that topic after topic. Back to the 2 main topics in chapter 2. AI: “James chapter 2 outlines two main points or topics: 1) believers must reject favoritism (partiality) towards the rich and powerful in the church, as it violates God’s law of love, and 2) true, saving faith must produce works, proving it’s alive, not just a dead, verbal profession, as shown by examples like Abraham and Rahab.”

1 The Sin of Partiality Vs 1-13 He had apparently seen or heard of the poor being discriminated in the churches. I wonder how James was so familiar with the sins of scattered churches and Jewish Christians. The rich with their bright clothes and jewelry were given special treatment in the assemblies, while the poor were seated off to the side out of view. James accused them of breaking the Law which said, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). He said that to break the Law in one point was to be guilty of breaking the whole Law and would bring judgement on them if they were still judged by the Law. Fortunately, Christians are under and will be judged by the new covenant law of grace not works. But new law of grace requires that we show the same grace or mercy to others that God shows to us in the new covenant in sending His Son to die for us. We don’t have to be perfect under the new covenant. But if you don’t show mercy to others, then this new covenant mercy will not be shown to you. James 2:12 So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. 13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

We know the long history of racial and social prejudice and discrimination in society. I was raised in the Jim Crow South with its separate schools, transportation, and water fountains. But has that existed in the church? Yes. Many Christians used the Bible to defend slavery even though most slaves were mistreated, even Christian slaves. Black Christians were either seated in separate areas of assemblies or forced to start their own black churches as the AME did. European colonization claimed to have missionary zeal for converting foreigners but treated them harshly and unfairly, stealing their countries’ resources and excluding them from equal social standing even if they were converted, considering them to be inferior. Many churches are still controlled by the rich and powerful in the congregation b/c they are the main ones who support the budget Let a smelly beggar come into the assembly and watch how he is treated. Many churches would show love to him, but many would give hypocritical concern to him while hoping he wouldn’t come back. It’s not just about how we treat someone in an assembly. Many congregations are doing very little to reach out to the poor and social outcasts right around their church buildings. They do lip service to “love your neighbor as yourself” but they spend almost all their contributions on themselves (building and staff) and a small percentage on helping the poor worldwide. Thankfully there are many churches that are trying to help the poor, but even those still spend most of their money on themselves.

2 Faith and Words Vs 14-25 This topic is still connected to loving your neighbor and loving the poor. True, saving faith must do more than just wish a poor person well. It must give him food and clothes if he needs them. James says that faith without works is dead. He points out that even the demons believe, and of course they are not saved. He gives the example of Abraham whose “faith was perfected by his works (by being willing to offer up Isaac, Genesis 22)”. It is interesting that James quotes Genesis 15:6 which states that Abraham was given saving righteousness b/c he believed (not that he did works). So Abraham was saved by faith but his faith was “perfected” by his works. The Greek for perfected is teleioó: To complete, to perfect, to accomplish, to bring to an end. True, saving faith will only be brought to its intended end when it is manifested in works. The same with Rahab whose new found faith in the God of Israel was manifested by hiding the two spies.

James even says that Abraham and Rahab were “justified by their works” (Vs 21, 25). James then makes a general, controversial statement: James 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Does this contradict what Paul said in Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the Law“? Or what he said in Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast”? Or Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life”? We should point out that Paul emphasized good works even while maintaining that we are not saved on the basis of our works: Titus 3:8 This statement is trustworthy; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds.?

But the bottom line is that Paul and James are just coming at salvation from different perspectives. Paul is saying that the “basis” or reason that God saves us is not our works. James would surely agree with that, but James says that even though we are saved by faith that true, saving faith must be manifested by works or else it will not be acceptable to God to save us. Yes, James says that we are justified by works, that we will not be justified (saved in the future) without works, but he is not saying that we will be saved on the basis of or because of our works. But James’ comments did create controversy, especially with Martin Luther as he promoted salvation by faith not works (the ritualistic works of Catholicism). AI:”Martin Luther famously called the Book of James an “epistle of straw” because he felt it contradicted Paul‘s doctrine of justification by faith alone, emphasizing “faith without works is dead”. While he strongly disliked it and questioned its apostolic authority, he never formally removed it from the canon.” BTW Lutherans do not formally reject the book of James today. I did have one Bible student many years ago who said that James should not be in the Bible!

Application: How active is your faith? Is your life filled with doing good works for Jesus, for helping the less fortunate? Is your faith mainly just going to church? Is your faith a very selfish, emotionally stimulating experience each Sunday without any follow up works? How involved are you in local good works like feeding the poor? How much of your income do you use to help the poor worldwide, to drill wells for those who don’t have clean water, as opposed to spending almost all of your income on your own pleasures and wants? Write down no a piece of paper all of the good works that you are doing for Jesus? I realize that no one can do enough good works, and there is not a number of good works that will show true, saving faith, but examine that piece of paper with your good works on it. Would an outsider say that you have true, saving faith?

James 2. What a great, needed chapter for Christians today.

AM I BECOME YOUR ENEMY BY TELLING YOU THE TRUTH?

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

Galatians 4:16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Paul said this to the Galatian Christians after scolding them. He began his letter to them in 1:6 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, 7 which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” There are none of the commendations for them as found in Colossians or several of his other letters. He is amazed at how quickly they followed the Judaizer false teachers who were saying that Gentile converts had to be circumcised. He says that they had been “bewitched” in 3:1 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” The Greek is baskaínō (from baskanos, “to cast an evil spell, wishing injury upon someone; to bewitch”) – properly, to exercise evil power over someone, like putting them under a spell.” He challenges them: “did you receive the miraculous indwelling of the Spirit by the hearing of faith (Paul would have been the one who taught, baptized them and laid his hands on them to give them the Spirit and miraculous gifts) or by the works of the Law (as was being promoted by the Judaizers). Who gave you the miraculous, me or the Judaizers”?

He fears that all his work with converting and maturing them has been in vain. 4: 8 “However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? 10 You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.” In other words, “I fear that I have wasted precious time working with you Galatians. I helped free you from the slavery of your pagan god laws and yet now you are allowing the Judaizers to make you a slave to rituals from the Law of Moses that you aren’t required to keep.” That’s pretty bold and harsh.

He reminds them of how they received him so fondly when he first converted them. Maybe his thorn was bad eyesight and they could have looked at Paul with contempt, but instead they would have torn out their own eyes and given them to Paul. Their relationship with him was such a blessing, and yet now they are turning on Paul. But it is not Paul, but Christ, that they are turning on. 4:12 I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; 13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; 14 and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, nor express contempt, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” Paul is saying, “what made you listen to the Judaizers and turn on me?”

He gets pretty strong with them. 4:19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for I am at a loss about you!” The Greek for “at a loss” is the term ἀπορέω. It is used in the New Testament to describe a state of perplexity or confusion, often in the context of not knowing what to do or how to proceed. In other words, “I don’t know what to do with you”. It sound like something you would say to your wild, disobedient teenage child after many incidents getting in trouble!

He tells them this it is fine if they want to be circumcised, but if they do it as a test of fellowship as promoted by the Judaizers then they will fall from grace. 5:2 Look! I, Paul, tell you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who has himself circumcised, that he is obligated to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace.” Circumcision was not a heaven/hell issue, but if someone makes it a heaven/hell issue and withdraws from those who aren’t circumcised, then that becomes a major issue. It means that the one making it a test of fellowship is no longer trusting the grace of God and is trusting the keeping of Laws instead of trusting God’s grace that allows freedom in non essential issues. Wow! The church I was raised in did that all the time. They made issues like instrumental music or kitchens in the church building (and many other issues) to be heaven/hell issues and withdrew from other Christians and denominations who disagreed with them. I even remember hearing our preachers condemn the denominations for using instrumental music (and other things), accusing them of “perverting the gospel of Christ”. They quote 1:6-9 saying the denominations were preaching a “different gospel”. But those whom Paul condemned for preaching a different gospel were the Judaizers who were making circumcision (a non heaven/hell issue) a test of fellowship with other Christians. So it was our preachers who, by making instrumental music a test of fellowship, were the ones preaching a different gospel!!!!!!! It took me a long time to figure that out!

He wants to know who has hindered them from full obedience to the gospel. 5:7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.” It certainly wasn’t the Christ Jesus who called them by the gospel of grace, not the legalism of the Law. Apparently the Judaizers had caused a lot of internal strife among the Galatian Christians. 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” I have seen many churches be divided and split over non heaven/hell issues like having kitchens in the building or using money from the treasury to support orphan homes. We are talking knock down, drag out. battles between members. Ugly, ugly church splits. Is that what was happening in their churches?

So back to Galatians 4:16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” He has been pretty blunt and harsh with them. He isn’t sure how they will respond to his sharp criticism. Will they side with the Judaizers and turn even further away from Paul? Will they listen to the Judaizers as they challenge the apostleship of Paul (which he defends vigorously in chapters 1 and 2)?

I just talked to a wonderful Christian lady from Trinidad, West Indies whom we baptized and matured during our 3 years of mission work there. She made me feel so good bragging on how we planted the churches in Trinidad that are still doing well 50 years later. I can’t imagine if the conversation had been such as Paul had with his Galatian converts. What if she had told me that some preachers from the U.S. had been to Trinidad and had convinced her that we were false teachers 50 years ago? What if I could tell that she no longer respected the work we did with them 50 years ago? Can you imagine how crushed that conversation would have been to me?????

Can you imagine how Paul felt about the negative attitude he was hearing about from his Galatian converts? We don’t even know how he found out about what was going on in the Galatian churches. Sadly, we don’t know how they responded to his letter. We are not even sure when he wrote the letter. Where was he when he wrote it? If Galatians 2 is about Paul going to Jerusalem for the conference in Acts 15 to settle the issue of Gentile converts being circumcised, then the letter had to be written after 50 AD (the date of the conference). That would mean the letter was written between 50 and 60 AD. Paul likely wrote his Epistle to the Galatians while traveling through Macedonia during his third missionary journey in about A.D. 55–57. If so, then he would not have been able to visit the Galatians to confront them in person since his 3rd journey ended as a prisoner in Jerusalem before going to Rome as a prisoner. That would make sense that he would write a letter to them. He probably never got to go visit them again even after he got out of Roman imprisonment during his last journey to Crete, Ephesus, and Miletus before he was arrested and faced his final imprisonment in Rome before being beheaded.

So, sometimes you need to tell people the truth even if it hurts their feelings or if it could strain your relationship with them. “You need to start using deodorant!” A true friend will tell his friend that. “You need to quit hanging around with those people.” “You need to quit having sex with your boyfriend.” “You need to get out of that legalistic church that you are in.” “You need to quit lying to your parents.” “You need to quit having that affair on your mate.” Need I go on? Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” Someone said that “unsolicited advice” is like “butting into someone’s personal business”. I guess it is. But if you really care about them, you will butt in and tell them what they need to hear! Paul kinda addresses that in Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.” He is telling those who are “spiritual” to back him up with his criticism of some of their less spiritual brethren and sisters.

Yes, you should tell them in love the blunt things that they need to hear. Do it in private if possible. Let them know you care. Let them know that you also have sins and weaknesses. Use “I” statements to express your feelings and observations without blaming or accusing your friend. For example, instead of saying “You’ve been so down lately,” you could say “I’ve noticed you seem down, and I’m worried about you.” But the bottom line is to tell them what they need to hear even if it hurts their feelings or embarrasses them or makes them mad at you or makes them defensive. If you love them you will tell them!