A new study on Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth is available at http://paultocorinth.blogspot.com

As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters.* Amen. (Galatians 6: 16-18)

The rule - kanon or principle - is to avoid the distraction of various legalisms and to fully accept the liberty of Christ crucified.

In his incarnation and crucifixion Jesus Christ demonstrates the purpose and power of self-sacrifice or - perhaps better - self-emptying.

From the gospels we know that Jesus was patient and forgiving of every human weakness except that of spiritual pride.

For Paul the Galatians are on the edge of choosing a path that ends in spiritual pride. Perhaps it is a path that begins with spiritual pride.

This is a profoundly dangerous path. Every other sin can - and often does - intersect with the path of righteousness.

Many sins may actually bring us - finally - closer to God. But spiritual pride leads us farther and farther away.

The laws of Moses - circumcision and more - can be beneficial in understanding what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

But the laws are dangerous if they tempt us to focus on our own righteousness instead of the need to empty ourselves and thereby participate in the righteousness of God.

The laws are perverted and even satanic if they lead us to judge others rather than love others.

Jesus fulfilled the laws by emptying himself on the cross. We are called to fulfill the law's true purpose by giving ourselves fully to Christ.

Above is Paul in Prison by Rembrandt.

See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! (Galatians 6:11-15)

Circumcision was intended to symbolize the relationship between God and his people.

Instead it had too often become a source of spiritual pride and racial separation.

The law was intended to show the way to God.

Instead it had too often become a distraction of ritual and regulation.

So often - and easily - I can pervert God's gifts to my own narrow purpose.

The distinctions that seem so important - circumcision or uncircumcision - are distractions.

All that truly matters is to accept and abide within the new creation.

Three closing verses remain. I will be offline until May 29. When I return a review and some final thoughts on Paul and his letter to the Galatians.

Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. (Galatians 6:6-10)

For the ancient Greeks chaos was unorganized - and therefore unrealized - potential.

There is a natural ecology of human life. It is, I perceive, a chaotic system or what some call a complex adaptive system.

Within very broad boundaries the system allows for - encourages - diversity, individuality, and randomness.

But in its fundamental origins the system is orderly and perpetually renewing. In chaos theory the system organizes around "strange attractors of meaning."

Each of us will achieve our unique potential by organizing our choices around a search for the Other, serving others, and working for the good of all.

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbour’s work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads. (Galatians 6: 1-5)

Paul does not so much place flesh and Spirit in contention as he contrasts the work of the flesh with the work of the Spirit.

If our object is to satisfy the flesh - a narrow and lonely aspect of the self - our work will produce nothing of value.

But if our effort is guided by the Spirit - the self in relationship with others and with God - we can co-create profound value.

Above is Paul visiting Peter in Prison by Filippino Lippi.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5: 22-26)

In giving ourselves to Christ we are transformed. Our preoccupation with the self is turned around. Instead of looking in, we look out. The works of the flesh become unsatsfactory. We find pleasure in how we relate with others.

Love - agape - fully recognizing the value of another.
Joy - chara - gladness in greeting another.
Peace - eirene - harmony between individuals.
Patience - makrothumia - persistent, constant, and longsuffering.
Kindness - chrestotes - to treat others in a fit and useful way.
Generosity - agathosune - honorable dealing with others.
Faithfulness - pistis - reliable and trustworthy.
Gentleness - prautes - attentive to the needs of others.
Self-control - egkrateia - temperate, having power over the self.

I do not read Paul as despising the flesh. But I do hear him insisting the Spirit must guide the flesh. Through the Spirit we find purpose, order, direction - and transcendent pleasure.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5: 19-21)

The work of the flesh - the ergon - outcome, output, or consequence of the body acting alone is:

Fornication - porneia - prostitution, especially as a form of worship.
Impurity - akatharsia - unclean, especially in regard to religious ritual.
Licentiousness - aselgeia - shameless lust for another.
Idolotry - eidololtreia - worship of false gods.
Sorcery - pharmakeia - the making of illusory cures.
Enmities - ecthra - acting in a hostile manner.
Strife - eris - contentious wrangling.
Jealousy - zelos - to be heated or angry.
Angry - thumos - uneven and repeating anger.
Quarrels - eritheia - partisan intrique and courting distinction, electioneering.
Dissensions - dicostasia - divisive behavior.
Factions - hairesis - choosing one over another.
Envy - phthonos - a corrupting and destructive attitude toward another.
Drunkeness - methe - intoxication.
Carousing - komos - a riotous procession associated with worship of Bacchus.

When the body is out of relationship with the Spirit it is self-asserting, delusional, oppressive, and divisive.

If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. (Galatians 5: 15-18)

Here and often elsewhere Paul's letters imply that spirit and flesh are in contention. We understand the ways of the flesh are as bad as the ways of the spirit are good.

This was an important aspect of some Greek thinking. In Judaism both spirit and flesh were more often each seen as God's creations and inherently good.

Above the translator offers, "For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit." Paul's original Greek has a potentially different nuance: "Sarx epithumeo kata pneuma" or the body seeks according to the spirit.

The preposition kata for which the translator uses "opposed" is much more often translated as something less contentious.

Paul also goes on to write, "pneuma kata epithumeo sarx" or the Spirit seeks according to the body.

Above is a detail from a fresco by Michelangelo depicting the conversion of Paul.

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 neighbour as yourself.’ (Galatians 5: 13-14)

This is the only quote from Jesus that Paul offers in Galatians.

Paul did not not know Jesus-the-teacher. He knew Christ-the-transformer.

Thanks to the gospels we have more specific knowledge of Jesus than Paul.

But Paul understood the freedom and love - eleutheria and agape - that Jesus fully embodied.

For the Greeks agape was a specific aspect of love, distinguished from phila (friendship) and eros (sexual or self-actualizing).

Agape was understood as love's character when aimed at achieving the Good.

In full relationship with the Greatest Good the self is transformed.

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 offence of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves! (Galatians 5: 7-12)

I don't like Paul. But I may yet love him.

Paul is not a temperate man. He is madly in love with God. He is deeply in love with the Galatians. He is entirely convinced of the truth as he understands it.

Paul passionately desires that we join in this love affair.

We know that Paul circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3). Apparently those advocating circumcision for all Christians had gone so far as to suggest Paul also practiced conformance with the laws and traditions of Judaism.

Like a jealous lover Paul lashes out at those who would tempt the Galatians away from him.

What I especially admire is that Paul's love is a call to radical liberty.

This jealous lover does not try to own, but seeks to set free.

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. (Galatians 5:5-6)

Paul can give us very dense sentences. The fifth verse is a short sentence dealing with the Holy Spirit, faith, hope, righteousness, and waiting. Some unpacking might help.

The following goes beyond a literal translation, but it may do a better job of communicating Paul's insight in language we will understand.

"By giving ourselves to the Spirit in full confidence and conviction we enter a state of actively anticipating (nearly experiencing) God's intention for our lives."

Do not be distracted by arguments over form. The issue of circumcision or uncircumcision is just such a distraction.

All that truly matters is for our confident understanding of God - our faith - to be made effectual and experienced through the self-sacrificing love of agape.

Above is a portrait of Paul by Rembrandt.

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. (Galatians 5: 2-4)

Redemption cannot be achieved through the law. Reconciliation with God cannot be advanced through the law.

Redemption and reconciliation are possible through a free person's decision to accept the grace of God.

By stepping outside the security of the law and accepting the risk of freedom we create the preconditions for experiencing grace.

Paul refers to grace at least 100 times in his epistles. Romans, First Corinthians, and Ephesians are especially dependent on the concept.

For Paul it is crucial that we avoid seeking to earn the love of God. We must instead yield to the love of God.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Eleutheria Christos Eleutheroo is the Greek. For liberty Christ liberated us.

Paul joins Aristotle in advocating eleutheria rather than exousia. Liberty does not mean to have no impediments. Both the natural and social worlds tell us that impediments to self-discovery and behavior will always exist.

But we can be - are meant to be - free in the sense of speaking our mind, seeking our best, and becoming that which is our distinctive function.

About a century before Paul's epistles Diodorus Siculus defined liberty as a kind of to autezousion or self-control, and this notion of eleutheria is in Paul's meaning.

For Paul liberty in Christ is to be freed from the external slavery of the law in order to discover our best self: the self God intended. Once this true self is experienced we will be increasingly drawn to live consistently and coherently with that identity.

Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac. But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the scripture say? ‘Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.’ So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman. (Galatains 4: 28-31)

I chose this study, in part, because I have carried an ill-informed bias against Paul for many years. It was time to listen more carefully.

The main point of Paul's message to the Galatians does not trouble me. The way he chooses to say it causes considerable concern.

Above he has taken a Genesis story and attempted to apply it to his argument. I think he stretches the allegory rather far. So have I from time to time.

Along the way he also - unintentionally, I think - sows dragon's teeth of discord and enmity between Gentile and Jewish Christians.

In verse 20 Paul expresses a desire to change his tone. I join him in that desire.

Above is Paul Preaching to the Thessalonians by Gustave Dore.

Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children, burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs; for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than the children of the one who is married.’ (Galatians 4: 21-27)

Allegory, analogy, and metaphor are crucial to our way of engaging the world. When facing a novel problem they may be the only tools available.

In reading scripture I am always seeking allegory, analogy, and metaphor for application to my own life. Given the infinity of God, I assume a pithy analogy is the best my brain can grasp of a reality far beyond my comprehension.

But while I am ready to embrace Paul's core argument for our liberty in Christ, this particular allegory is not helpful to me.

Jesus gave us allegory after allegory and seldom explained his meaning. Here Paul points us to a preexisting allegory and tells us what we are to understand. His explanation does not - yet - advance my understanding or confidence.

In verse 20 Paul writes, "I wish I could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you."

Paul is hundreds of miles away - Rome is often suggested - he has heard rumors, the details are hazy, but the reports have sufficient credibility to compel him to action. The concern is serious enough for tough language.

But he cannot be sure what angle or argument is best suited for the local situation. In his perplexity he offers many arguments which - when combined with the legacy of his relationship, the good will of the listeners, and the help of the Holy Spirit - might find a sympathetic ear.

They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them. It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. (Galatians 4: 17-20)

We are often attracted to externalities that will signal success. We may be attracted to a certain quality or design not for its innate value or beauty, but for what we hope it will tell others of our value.

Prestigious brands, exclusive clubs, and manipulative individuals have always used this common human trait to their advantage. Fairly or not, Paul is accusing those who have brought another gospel to Galatia of preying on this tendency.

Fundamental for Paul is giving oneself to Christ. There is no greater value than being in intimate relationship with Christ. There is no greater rank than being a true child of God. Every other purpose is pride or worse.