“Wow” is all that I can say.
I just read through Galatians again, studying it for class, and I
stumbled on a real treasure of a jewel in this cave[1]!
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6
For those unfamiliar, I’d like to give a very brief summary
of the context of Galatians. Paul
visited the southern cities of Galatia and established churches predominantly
made up of Gentiles (non-Jews). After
Paul left, other Jews (most likely non-Christian Jews) came persuading the
Gentiles to now take on at least portions if not all of the Jewish law. The motivations of these false teachers is
somewhat unclear. We know that the Gentiles believed that these
burdens of the law were necessary to receive
justification. Paul scolds them to
never believe gospel different from the one that Paul first preached to them,
even if this new gospel were preached by himself or angels. That is the basic lay of the land. It is only six chapters; you can read it
easily in one setting to get the rest of it.
Now what I want to concentrate on…
Faith
Working
through Love
In such a short sentence (really just a participle of that sentence!), Paul sums up (on my view) the whole of the New Testament.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6
My paraphrase:
Who you are or where you are from is meaningless to Christ
Jesus. It no longer matters if you are
from a Jewish lineage or not. Here’s
what does matter: that you have an active faith evidenced by good
works and motivated by love.
In this one participle, “faith working through love” we have
the fullness of Romans and the Gospels (faith), James (working), and 1
Corinthians 13 (love) in summary fashion.
Faith
To the nonbeliever, this is where it all starts—Faith in Christ Jesus, that He is God, that He died to take your rightful punishment, that He now offers you forgiveness of sins opening a path back to communion with the Father, and that He bestows this gift freely through grace by faith to all who trust in Him and call out to Him.
To the believer—Faith in Christ Jesus that He has a plan for those trials that you are in right now, that His Word is still true, that He is faithful to reward obedience and to discipline disobedience, that He is sufficient for our every need, that He will return and give ultimate victory over sin, death, and evil, and that He will transform our being so that we can be once and forever united to Him in bliss to enjoy the triune God for all time.
Working
To the believer—Working so that we are good stewards of our time, treasures, and talents, so that we edify the body of Christ, so that we are not ashamed showing ourselves to be approved workmen, so that we are daily transformed closer and closer to His likeness looking forward to that blessed day when we are once and forever changed, so that we are faithful slaves of the Master, so that we are effective ambassadors for His Kingdom, and so that we may enter into His presence hearing “Well done, My good and faithful servant”!
through Love
To the believer—through Love so that we are living sacrifices for God, so that we do all out of proper motivations, so that we do not act for our gain, so that we act for His Kingdom, so that we act for our neighbor, and so that Christ has in all things the first place!
Faith Working through Love!!
[1]
Jewels in the Cave: Dr. Del Tackett
often refers to specific topics or truth claims that are of particular interest
as "jewels in the cave."
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