Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXX)

Evangelist William Edward Shepard (1862-1930) addresses the thorn in the flesh that Paul talks about and what it may involve. He says that according to some statements he makes to the Galatian church, it leaves little room for doubt that his trouble was a mutilated condition of the face, particularly affecting his eyes due to his beatings and other physical abuse by his opponents. This is not meant to infer that he suffered from sore eyes, but a scarred face and weakened eyesight, that made him appear unsightly. In his own words, Paul says here in verse thirteen: “And my temptation, which was in my body, you did not despise nor reject; but received me as an angel of God, even as Messiah, Jesus.” He seemed so thankful to them that they did not reject him on account of his physical condition.

In verse fourteen, Paul feels that they would not hesitate to exchange what was complete in them for what was so incomplete in him. “For I remember that, if it were possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.” It seems quite conclusive that his trouble was mainly with his eyes. As further proof of this, we should note that Paul almost always brought companions with him, probably not only as a stenographer but a helper, because of impaired eyesight. It appears that the only epistle Paul wrote with his own hands was to these Galatians. Evidently, the reason why he did not write more was his physical frailty. He wrote the Galatians because they drifted into a sad spiritual state, and Paul, to prove that it was his own epistle, wrote it with his own hand so it would carry with it as much weight as possible. We see that in the final chapter, eleventh verse, Paul explained: As you can see, this is my own handwriting because of how big the letters are. This shows not only that he wrote the letter with his own hand, but that it was written in large characters. Why large letters? Because of his impaired vision, he could do the work easier and better. Probably the only way he could write at all.^[1]

Modern commentator Robert Gundry points out that ancient people often mistreated those who suffered from physical handicaps by making light of their disability and by spitting, which they thought shielded them from catching the disease themselves, especially if the infirmed person looked at them with what they considered “an evil eye.”  We do not know for sure the nature of Paul’s infirmity, nor do we need to know in order to understand this passage, and he doesn’t identify his ailment to the Galatians because they already knew what it was.^[2]  But he does say that because of it, “the Galatians were tested because of his incapacity.” They passed the test by welcoming him rather than mistreating him even a little bit. Moreover, they welcomed him as they would welcome an angel, in the same way, they would welcome the Anointed One Jesus Himself as a messenger from God. When we take into consideration their religious status at that time, it’s hard to imagine a better welcome.”^[3]

Philip Ryken adds an additional piece of information related to just what physical ill was tormenting Paul when he arrived in Galatia. Some say he contracted malaria on his journey there, and others, of course, point to poor eyesight. Here in verse fourteen, Paul speaks of his condition being an illness that caused him no small amount of irritation and desire for relief. The Greek noun peirasmos that Paul uses here means something that tries one patience. Thayer in his Greek Lexicon says that as used here, it means an affliction that will test one’s endurance and perseverance. We don’t know how many times Paul was told and even considered, turning around and going back to Tarsus to recover.

But when he showed up in Galatia in poor physical condition, no doubt it made him look less than an inviting person to meet. In fact, Paul was so glad that the Galatians did not consider his condition to be something to scorn or despise. Therefore, says Ryken, it may have been so visually repulsive that Paul looks just plain ugly. Ancient Greeks considered disease and disability to be signs of divine displeasure or even demonic influence. The way Paul says this, it appears that he understood that pagans, many of which the Galatians were, showed their displeasure for someone that was disfigured by an evil power by spitting at them. So, says Ryken, that’s precisely what Paul said to them, “I’m glad you didn’t spit at me.”^[4]

To get a better idea of what Paul looked like and what he was talking about when saying he was not in good physical shape, look at what he told the Corinthians: “I know I sound like a madman, but I have served Him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.”^[5]

I’ve been an admirer of Mother Theresa, especially after visiting her hospital in Calcutta, India. Here was an elderly lady with a wrinkled face, bent over slightly as she walked, with no outer beauty to demand attention. Yet everywhere she went, crowds gathered around and admire her as a modern-day saint because of her compassion and dedication to the down and out. Perhaps Paul felt the same way when he arrived in Galatia. No doubt it touched his heart deeply, and now he’s beginning to wonder if it was all real; if it was genuine.

4:15-16 So, what happened to your joy and openness? Back then, I was convinced that if you could, you would have gouged out your own eyes and given them to me. Accordingly, I ask you, do you hate me now just because I’m willing to be open and honest with you?

 Now Paul begins his version of “Breaking up is hard to do.” The Apostle reminds them of how everything was going great when they were together; how they declared themselves so blessed with him being in their midst. And when they saw the infirmity he was dealing with, they pledged to do anything, and they meant “anything” to try and help him cope with it or completely overcome it. Some theologians suggest that by Paul mentioning their willingness to sacrifice their eyes, and his reference to writing in big letters at the end of this epistle, that the infirmity was poor eyesight.  But others make note that already in Paul’s day there were Latin writings such as the one in which one character named Aeschinus said, “May all the Gods detest me, father, if I do not love you better than my very own eyes!”

In this revelation of the Galatian believer’s love and respect for Paul, he raises an important point concerning the relationship between a pastor and the congregation. The great reformist John Calvin once said that it’s not enough that pastors be respected if they are not also loved. Both are necessary; otherwise, their teaching might taste sour.^[6] By the same token, the great modern-day reformist John Montgomery Boice stated that the degree to which ministers and teachers teach the Word of God, they should be welcomed at the same level as the Galatians received the Apostle Paul.  Ministers should not be evaluated on the basis of their personal appearance, intellectual attainments, or pleasant manners in order to be accepted, but as to whether or not they are indeed God’s messengers bearing the Word of the Anointed One.^[7]

In my over fifty-five years in ministry, I’ve listened to scores and scores of pastors, evangelists, teachers, and ministers.  When it came to looks, dress and delivery style, some of them made little impression, but their knowledge of the Word and their commitment to the truth made me admire them greatly; by the same token, some others who were qualified to appear on the cover of GQ Magazine left me shaking my head in disappointment when it came to their substandard expository preaching of God’s Word.

The Bible does not give us a physical description of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah noted: “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.”^[8] The people did not stream after Jesus because He was good looking or resembled a matinee idol, but they were impressed by the way He taught. When the Jewish leaders sent out the temple guards to arrest Jesus, they came back empty-handed. The leaders asked them why, and the guards responded: “We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man!”^[9]

After reflecting favorably on the past, Paul now throws out a challenging question: What happened to those people who made me feel so welcome and listened intently to the message of hope I brought them? It’s like there was nothing you wouldn’t do for me, now it looks like you don’t want anything to do with me. Paul expressed a similar frustration when the Jews seemed totally unreceptive to his message of salvation by faith through grace. He once wrote that he felt great sorrow and always feels much sadness for his own people. They were his brothers and sisters, his earthly family. He wanted so badly to help them turn to the Anointed One even if it brought a curse on him and cut him off from the Anointed One.^[10] But the Galatians were not the only ones he felt such compassion for and appreciation for their love and respect.

Paul also wrote the Thessalonians and told them how his visit to Thessalonica turned out to be such a success. Before he visited there, the Jews in Philippi abused him and his team with insults and made them suffer. And then, when they came to Thessalonica, many people there also caused trouble for them. But God gave them the courage to tell them His Good News about the Messiah. And when they encourage people to give their hearts to God, it wasn’t done with any ulterior motive. They were not trying to trick or fool anyone. They did it because God was the one who sent them there. But it was only after he tested them and saw that they were trustworthy to do what they were being sent to do.

[1] William Edward Shepard: Wrested Scriptures Made Plain, Ch. 9, pp. 45-46

[2] Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7–10

[3] Robert H. Gundry: Commentary on Galatians, loc cit.

[4] Ryken, Philip Graham. On Galatians, op. cit., (Location 3041-3064) Kindle Edition

[5] 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 – New Living Translation (NLT)

[6] John Calvin: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[7] John Montgomery Boice, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Galatians, loc. cit.

[8] Isaiah 53:2-3

[9] See John 7:46, (cf. Matthew 7:29; Luke 4:22)

[10] Romans 9:2-3

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXIX)

Paul summarized it this way so he wouldn’t think of himself as being better than anyone else. And even though he begged the Lord three times to take this problem away, each time the Lord told him, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So, I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then the Anointed One’s power can reside in me. Yes, I am glad for my shortcomings if they are for the Anointed One. I am glad to be insulted and go through hard times. I’m glad when I am persecuted and encounter problems because that’s when my weakness leads to my being made really strong.^[1]

Yet Paul kept in mind another encouraging factor that helped him survive whatever physical handicap he may be dealing with. He also told the Corinthians that it’s true that the Anointed One’s weak human body died on a cross. And it is by God’s power that the Anointed One lives today. Sometimes we are weak just like He was. But we are now and will be forever alive with the Anointed One through the power God promised us.^[2] Sometimes we forget that just before Jesus calmed the winds and the waves,^[3] He was so exhausted that He fell asleep in a boat being rocked by huge waves. Any person must be totally exhausted for that to happen. Sometimes, as we tout His divine power, we forget His human limitations.

In the book of Job, we find out that he certainly learned this lesson the hard way. He told God how he had become a laughingstock to his friends, although he called on God, and He answered him. But Job understood that sometimes those with no handicaps laugh at others who do.^[4] Even the intelligent young man who wrote the fabulous Psalm 119 admitted that he was laughed at because the older ones thought he was trying to show off. Even the wise King Solomon stated that he still believes that wisdom is better than strength. Some people pay no attention to a poor person’s suggestions, so they don’t bother to listen to anything they say. But he believes that mental strength is better than physical stamina.^[5]

And listen to what the prophet Isaiah says about the coming Messiah: “For before Him [God] He grew up like a young plant, like a root out of the dry ground. He was not well-formed or especially handsome; we saw him, but his appearance did not attract us. People despised and avoided Him, a man of pains, well acquainted with illness. Like someone from whom people turn their faces, He was despised; we did not value him.”^[6] That convinced Paul that sometimes God chooses what seems weak and foolish to the world, what is hated and not appreciated, to destroy the things the world trusts in.^[7] Yes, says Paul, sometimes our faith looks foolish to the world because they think they are so wise and sensible. Because of that, worldly people are thought of as being geniuses while Christians are laughed at.^[8] That’s why Paul warned the Thessalonians that anyone who refuses to obey the Gospel is refusing to obey God, and God is the one who gives His Holy Spirit who helps us understand what we hear.^[9]

This is why Paul gives credit to the Galatians for accepting him as he is and respects him for what he endeavored to do. Perhaps what the prophet Malachi said about those who are ordained to teach God’s people is important. He advised that a person who represents God should possess a thorough knowledge of God’s Word. People should be able to go to such a person and learn what God says. A minister should be considered and accepted as the Lord’s messenger to the people.^[10] This no doubt gave Paul the courage to talk about himself and those who accompanied him as the Anointed One’s missionaries. God is speaking to people through them. In other words, they are speaking on the Anointed One’s behalf and with love are asking sinners to turn from their sins and come to God.^[11] That’s why Paul was so happy to tell the Thessalonians that he thanks God that when they heard the Word of God from his fellow missionaries, they believed it. They did not receive it as some new form of philosophy but as the Word of God. That’s why it is still at work in their lives because they believed.^[12]

When it comes to the infirmities Paul was dealing with, Reformer Martin Luther says that Jerome and others of the early church writers allege this infirmity of Paul’s involved some physical defect or physical attraction to the opposite sex. Jerome and these other pathologists lived at a time when the Church enjoyed peace and prosperity when the bishops increased in wealth and standing when pastors and bishops no longer sat studying the Word of God. No wonder they failed to understand Paul.

When Paul speaks of the infirmity of his flesh, says Luther, he does not mean some physical defect or sinful tendency, but the sufferings and afflictions he endured in his body as a result of his imprisonment and beatings for his faith. He explains what these infirmities were to the Corinthians.^[13] By disability, Paul meant some acute affliction and not some chronic disease. He reminds the Galatians how he was always in peril at the hands of the Jews, Gentiles, and false brethren, how he suffered hunger and want.^[14] It may be that while Luther was still a monk, that he read the writings of Ambrosiaster, who also concurred that Paul was talking about the injuries and wounds he suffered while spreading the Gospel.^[15]

Jerome (342-420 AD) finds verse thirteen as an unclear passage that demands closer examination. Paul is speaking of when he first came to Galatia, he preached to them as if they were infants while suffering physically. Jerome said that he followed this same rule that Paul speaks of here in his own preaching. That Paul knew, based upon his condition being what it was, that the Galatians were trying to decide if it was worth listening to such a sickly preacher.

But Jerome thinks there is another way to look at it. Paul was really saying that when he came to them, it was as a humble and despised man. When they saw and listen to him, they perceived that his humbleness of spirit and the plainness of dress were meant to test them. Or, we might suppose that the Apostle was sick when he came to the Galatians because he was subject to abuse and persecution and physical beatings from the adversaries of the Gospel in other places.^[16] If we take Jerome’s second proposition first and then add on the first one last, they certainly would provide a compelling case.

Reformer John Calvin shares his interpretation that by the infirmity of the flesh, Paul means his tendency to make himself appear mean and contemptible. Such was Paul’s behavior when he came to Galatia without making a big deal out of it, without pretense, without any claim to worldly honors or rank, without everything that might gain him respect or esteem in the eyes of people. Yet, all this did not prevent the Galatians from giving him the most honorable reception. What Paul says here gives his argument to speak for the Anointed One a powerful boost. So, there must be something that awakened their esteem or veneration, and it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Under what pretext, then, will they now begin to show disrespect for that power? Next, it was accepted that Paul really possessed no history of greatness that gave him the right to claim so much at this stage of his life that might make them esteem him any more than before. But Paul plans to leave it up to the Galatians, content with indirectly suggesting it as a subject for consideration.^[17]

Adam Clarke notes that the Greek noun peirasmos translated in English as “temptation,” signifies trials of any kind. Thayer in his Greek Lexicon offers two situations in which this testing takes place: It can be used specifically as a trial of a person’s fidelity, integrity, virtue, and consistency, but also an enticement or temptation to sin. However, it is often used universally of being tried and tested in order to prove oneself as real and genuine. Thayer says that the word is used here in its universal meaning.

Therefore, Clarke says this verse may be rendered as follows: “You showed no contempt for the physical trial I was dealing with,” or “You showed no contempt for my physical handicap because of the trial you were going through.” To put this another way, Clarke suggests that it reads that Paul was glad they did not charge him with making things difficult for them because of his handicap, nor were they upset because all that he did for them made his suffering even worse. In Clarke’s mind, Paul is more or less telling the Galatian believers that despite all these things, they did not consider him less of an Apostle of God on account of his being overcome at times by the heavy load of work he carried.

For Clarke, this means that if the Galatians proved to be dismissive of Paul at that time so that they felt no shame in criticizing his apostolic mission, then they might say something like: “What! Do you pretend to be an extraordinary messenger from God, and yet allowed to become sick because of your heavy workload?  If God really sent you, He certainly sustains you?” In Clarke’s mind, this seemed quite natural if the Galatians didn’t receive him affectionately.^[18]

Catholic writer George Haydock (1774-1849) gives us the later Roman Catholic point of view of what Paul says here in his day. He agrees with Jerome, who thought that the Apostle suffered because of some infirmity in his body. Chrysostom understood it to be his poverty, and lack of essentials plus persecutions, which caused some to show little respect for him and his preaching on these accounts. Yet others among them did not esteem him less: they received him, respected him as an Angel of God, as for the Anointed One Jesus; they pledged to give him their eyes, as one might say, and all that was dear to them. But in spite of all the accolades he heaps on them, he’s still confused why they changed so much so quickly without asking for his help.^[19]

[1] Ibid. 12:7-10

[2] Ibid. 13:4

[3] Mark 4:39

[4] Job 13:4-5

[5] Ecclesiastes 9:16

[6] Isaiah 52:2-3 – Complete Jewish Bible

[7] 1 Corinthians 1:28

[8] Ibid. 4:10

[9] 1 Thessalonians 4:8

[10] Malachi 2:7

[11] 2 Corinthians 5:20

[12] 1 Thessalonians 2:13

[13] 2 Corinthians 11:23-25; 12:9-10

[14] Martin Luther: Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[15] Ambrosiaster, op. cit., p. 23

[16] Edwards, M. J. (Ed.). On Galatians, op. cit., p. 62

[17] John Calvin: Commentary on Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[18] Adam Clarke: Commentary on Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[19] George Haydock: Catholic Bible Commentary, Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXVIII)

Dutch scholar Alfred E. Bouter takes note of what Paul meant when he said, “Be as I am.” It is Paul’s attempt to let the Galatians know that they did not slight him by what they are doing. This is proof that Paul was not legalistic in his approach. In the U. S. Army, we had a saying, “Shape up, or ship out!”  It was just a poetic way of telling someone to get with the program and start following the rules or get out, we don’t want or need you. Paul’s motive was to help the believer, but when we consider what these false teachers were doing, it was clear to him that they were really only promoting their own interests.

So, what does “Be as I am” mean, asks Bouter? It is an appeal for them to use their good sense. Paul lives in freedom from the Law in union with the Anointed One. That’s he says to the Galatians, “Be as I am, enjoy this liberty just as I do.” Since Paul, like them, was once bound by the Law, he also was set free from its power. Paul had no interest in going back into slavery under the Law that would result in being told what sin was and then not having the ability to resist. Therefore, Paul is pleading with them: “Be like me! Stay free!” I’m not your enemy, I’m not trying to get revenge on you for thinking this way. The Galatians might be thinking: We did wrong because we said that we wanted to go back to the Law, we wanted to be under the Law. Now Paul was saying it was a terrible thing to do. So, let’s be cautious about attacking Paul, he might become angry. What can we learn from this, asks Bouter? Where there is a doctrinal disagreement, Paul does not take things personally. This is also a lesson for us.^[1]

Christian Messianic writer Thomas Lancaster addresses Paul’s statement that he became like one of the Gentile Galatians after he arrived. He mentions that some scholars, even the eminent Rabbi Yechiel Lichtenstein,^[2] suggest that this means Paul chose to live like a Gentile, abandoning some matters of the Torah such as the high dietary standards, perhaps in order to live, function, and reach out to the Gentiles more effectively. This may be the case. If so, Paul beseeched the Galatians to join him in his in-between status, neither at the highest Torah standard nor at the lowest level as a pagan participating in idolatry.^[3]

 Lancaster goes on to say that while these may only be speculations, it certainly relates to another critical statement Paul made to the believers in Corinth.^[4] So, Lancaster concludes that this may imply that Paul adopted hypocritical pretenses in order to win people to the Gospel.  As such, this paints a troubling portrait of Paul as disingenuous, deceitful, and double-minded. Lancaster claims, such methods of evangelism were often attempted in Messianic Jewish circles, Jewish Christians used to pretend to be Torah-observant to hopefully win Jewish people to the Messiah, but in fact, they did not believe in the ongoing authority of the Torah. Their observance was only a pretense to lure Jews closer. But Lancaster does say that He does not believe that this was Paul’s mode of operation, nor does he believe it should be anyone’s.^[5]

While on the surface that may seem a logical conclusion, Paul was certainly not conceited. Just from his own writings, we do not see a profile that rivals the ancient Greek mythological Narcissus. What Paul referred to was his new-found freedom in the Anointed One that liberated him from the tedious and worthless adherence to the old religious rituals and regulations that supposedly earn a person their own salvation. Thus, Paul appeals to the Galatians based on their spiritual relationship with God. He pleads with them to live their lives for the Anointed One as he did in freedom from the bondage of Mosaic Law. After all, says Paul, you Gentiles paid no attention to the Jewish ceremonial laws before you got saved, and I, as a Jew, moved over to your side by paying no more attention to these ceremonial laws either. That’s why when I first came to you preaching the Gospel; you took me in like I was one of your own.

I remember the first time I went to Pakistan to visit the churches there; I saw everyone eating with their hands. This is something I didn’t do from the time I was one year old, so I wasn’t surprised it came back to me so easily. When the brethren saw I was willing to become one with them, they embraced me very quickly and listened to me as a friend and brother in the Anointed One, not as a stranger. I also saw that they were not used to seeing a preacher in a western suit, so I went down to the market and bought me an eid salwar kameez, which is a long-sleeved shirt, and took off my coat and tie. I saw the people smile when I walked up on the platform. It was my way of saying, “I’m one of you.” I was not pretending I was something I was not, but rather, that I wanted to be more like something I was not.

Here Paul reminds the Jews that at one time, he acted like a zealot addicted to the religious rituals and regulations of Judaism just like they were, but he gave it all up like they did to embrace the freedom that the Anointed One gives from such bondage. Paul went through the same struggle the Jewish believers went through in trying to give up these things. Paul was not encouraging the Jews to do something he didn’t do himself. So why were they doubting him now and the announcement of freedom that he brought to them?

Paul’s message to the Galatians should serve as an example for all the Christians who go or who are sent to speak to a wayward believer. In some churches, congregations are harder and less compassionate on fellow members who fall or stumble than they are on the most despicable sinner who comes forward for salvation. As Martin Luther found out when he became a born-again believer, the church he once served so faithfully showed little mercy for him. So, he encouraged all pastors and ministers to show more sympathy for their poor straying sheep and instruct them in the spirit of meekness. Luther told them that they will find it hard to get them to straighten out in any other way. Sharp-tongued rebukes provoke anger and antagonism, not remorse and repentance. Paul tells the Galatians that he’s not mad at them because they broke his heart, his concern for them came from the fact that he loved and respected them. That’s why he told them that he was not writing this to put them down, but he wrote this way to lift them up.  So please, says Paul, don’t take this as a harsh rebuke; it’s given to you out of love for your souls.

4:13-14 You remember when I first arrived to bring you the Gospel, I was terribly ill.  Even so, you did not reject me or look down on me because I was suffering so badly.  Not at all, as a matter of fact, you took me in as if I were an angel from God; you treated me as though I were the Messiah Himself.

 To give us an excellent historical perspective, Maria Mavromataki shares that Paul’s third journey began from Antioch in 52 AD and must have been completed in 58 AD. The first provinces in which he taught were those of Galatia and Phrygia. It seems that while in those parts, he fell seriously ill, though the nature of his illness is not known to us, Paul describes it here in verses thirteen and fourteen. When he was out of danger, he continued on to Ephesus, where he was imprisoned. From there, he sent his first letter to the Corinthians and, in all probability, paid a brief visit to their city. On his return to Ephesus, he wrote the Epistle to the Galatians. He then traveled in Macedonia, writing his Second Epistle to the Corinthians from Philippi, a little before visiting their city for the third time. During the course of his three-month stay in Corinth, he wrote the Epistle to the Romans, which was dispatched from the port of Cenchreæ while he himself prepared to leave by sea. However, Jewish plots against his life forced him to return through Macedonia. Thus, he traveled by land to Neapolis, took a ship to the Troas, and then went on to Assos.^[6]

Paul continues his heartwarming plea for the Galatians to accept his writing as coming from a friend, a buddy, someone who loved them very much, by reminding them of the circumstances that surrounded his arrival there, and how they graciously put up with his handicap – whatever that was, from malaria to epilepsy to bad eyesight or the result of all his physical punishment by those who opposed him – but they did not hold it against him even though it caused them quite a bit of extra work and worry. As a matter of fact, they treated him like a celebrity.

There is an interesting comment in the Jewish Mishnah that helps set up the confrontation between the message Paul brought to the Galatians and that of the Judaizers. It tells us that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: Every day a Heavenly voice comes forth from Mount Horeb [also called Mount Sinai] and proclaims and says: Woe is to them, to mankind, for their disrespect of the Torah, for whoever does not spend time studying the Torah is referred to as, “Rebuked.” Like King Solomon wrote: “As a ring of gold in the snout of a swine, so is a fair woman without discretion,”[7] The gold ring represents one’s God-given gift of thought, which when utilized for dishonorable thoughts is compared to gold in the snout of the swine.

And it also says: “And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God Harut – engraved on the Tablets.”[8] But the Hebrew verb PaTHacH – (“engraved”) should be read as PaTHecH – (“opened”), says Yehoshua, for there is no one as free as one who occupies themselves with the study of the Torah. And anyone who occupies themselves with the study of the Torah becomes elevated, as it says: “From Mattanah to Nahliel and from Nahliel to Bamot” [Mattanah is understood as a gift, namely, the Torah, and if studied it transforms from a gift to become Nahliel – an inheritance, and from an inheritance, it raises one to Bamot – great heights].[9] ^[10]

Here Paul recalls the first time he came to Galatia and the physical condition he was in. But instead of bearing a message from Mount Horeb, he brought one from Mount Calvary. It appears the whatever infirmity Paul suffered from like a thorn in the flesh, was chronic. He even reminded the Corinthians that when he arrived there in Corinth, he was weak, nervous, and shaking all over from anxiety.^[11] Not only that, but apparently Paul experienced trouble speaking clearly. This is usually the case with someone who stutters.^[12] But Luke does not mention this anywhere in his Acts of the Apostles. However, Paul did confess to the Corinthians in his second letter that God allowed him to suffer a painful condition – that he called “a messenger from Satan” – allowed by God to make me suffer.

[1] Alfred E. Bouter: On Galatians, op. cit., loc., cit., p. 57

[2] Rabbi Yechiel Tzvi Lichenstein was a late 19th-century Jewish believer from a Chasidic background who became a believer in Yeshua of Nazareth as Messiah.  He wrote Chizzuk Emunat Emet (“True Faith Strengthened”), which is Lichtenstein’s response to the famous anti-missionary work Chizzuk Emunah (“Faith Strengthened”) by Isaac Troki.

[3] D. Thomas Lancaster: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit., p. 209

[4] 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

[5] D. Thomas Lancaster, op. cit., pp. 209-210

[6] Mavromataki, Maria. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles – Journeys in Greece (Kindle Locations 1425-1436). Haitalis Editions. Kindle Edition.

[7] Proverbs 11:22

[8] Exodus 32:16

[9] Numbers 21:19

[10] Jewish Mishnah: Nezikin II, Avot, Ch. 6:2

[11] 1 Corinthians 2:3

[12] 2 Corinthians 11:6

ltNEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXVII)

4:12 My dear brothers and sisters, try to view things as the Jews see them for my sake because I tried to view things as Gentiles see them for your sake when I first came to you, and you were not biased and turned me away.

 Some psychologists feel that Paul offering himself as a prototype to be imitated is guilty of selfishly asking believers to mimic him.[1] After all, didn’t Paul ask the Thessalonians to become imitators of him;^[2] and he urged the Corinthians to imitate him by saying: “I wish you were all just like me;”^[3] then asked the Philippians to “watch what I do and then you do the same?”^[4] But early medieval scholar Marius Victorinus presents his view. He writes that Paul transferred from presenting the Torah in the First Covenant to preaching the Gospel in the Final Covenant, which made it possible for both Jews and Gentiles to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. That’s why he now lives a totally different life as a believer. He lived what he taught, and as a result, he became the type of person he now wanted them to be. So, the joyful life he now lives is the same joyful life he wants the Galatians to experience.^[5]

Paul easily backed this up by telling them that when he visited the Apostles in Jerusalem and met with the church council, he told them all about what God was doing among the Gentiles living in foreign lands. When they heard his testimony, they thanked the Lord. However, they immediately countered Paul’s testimony by saying to him: You see, brother Paul, how many thousands of Christians there are among the Jews. They all live according to the rules in the Torah. And they heard about you. They heard how you teach the Jews who live among the Gentiles. They heard that you teach them to break away from the Law of Moses. They say you are telling them not to do the righteous act of becoming a Jew by circumcision and not to follow the Jewish way of worship.^[6] So Paul was not trying to hide anything.

In fact, Paul told the Corinthians that when among his fellow Jews, he conducted himself like a Jew to help save them. He himself is not ruled by the Torah or ceremonial laws, but to those who are ruled by such things, he became like one of them. He did this to help save them by God’s free grace through the Gospel. And to those who lived without the Torah or Jewish ceremonial laws, he became like one of them. He did this to help save them by God’s free grace. However, Paul admits that he does not live entirely without any form of guidance, in fact, he lives by the rules given by the Anointed One. Furthermore, to those who are weak, he became vulnerable to help save them. He became all things to all people. He did this to lead people to salvation in any way possible. I do all this to make the Good News known. He did it to share in the blessings the Gospel promises.^[7]

I can understand Paul’s point of view. When I ministered in Eastern Europe, I was told by the brethren that Christian men did not wear ties with their suits, so I removed my tie to conform. In other places, I was informed that visitors should not put their feet up, especially on a coffee table, because to point the sole of a shoe at someone was a sign of disrespect and an insult. Then in Asia, I joined my fellow believers in India and Pakistan by eating with my hands, taking off my shoes in Korea when I went up on the platform to speak. Like Paul, I did this to conform to their customs so as not to show disrespect for the way they conducted themselves as believers.

That’s why Paul told the Philippians that at one time, all these things were important to him for salvation. But because of the Anointed One, he decided that they are worth nothing. Not only these things, but now he thinks that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing the Anointed One Jesus as Lord. Because of the Anointed One, he threw away all these things as worthless trash. All he wants now is to know the Anointed One and His resurrecting power.^[8] So if a person of Paul’s intelligence, knowledge of God’s Word, and the high standing as an Apostle called by the Anointed One, what excuse can the Galatians offer for throwing away all that he shared with them concerning the freedom that God’s grace supplies. As Paul said, how could they be so stupid?

As Martin Luther rightfully points out, up to this point, Paul was occupied with the doctrinal aspect involved in the Galatians’ backsliding. He did not conceal his disappointment at their lack of stability. He rebuked them more than once. He called them fools, crucifiers of the Anointed One, etc. Now that the more important part of his Epistle is finished, he realizes that he handled the Galatians too roughly. Anxious about not doing more harm than good, he carefully lets them see that his criticism proceeds from sincere affection and a true Apostolic concern for their welfare. He is eager to tone down his sharp words with gentle assurances in order to win them back again.^[9] As we’d say today, Paul took off his boxing gloves and put on kid gloves to reach out and embrace those converts to the Anointed One whose ears he pounded so ferociously.

These same psychologists, mentioned before, now suggest that Paul’s presentation of himself as a model seems to proceed from, and reflect, his sense of being a person who achieved great things. It also presupposes that his achievements will, or should, be recognized by others. But the venerable preacher, early church Chrysostom, disagrees. For him, these words are addressed to his Jewish disciples, and he shares his own experience about forsaking the Law as a way of convincing them to abandon their old customs. Since they have no one to serve as a pattern for them, Paul tells them to look at how he changed for the better, so that should give them plenty of courage.

 To back up what he is saying, Paul, adds even more for their consideration. In one of his homilies, Chrysostom feels that Paul is saying to the Galatians, look at me now; I once proclaimed the same views that you do now. Once my zeal for the Law burned in my heart and mind like a fire. Yet when the opportunity was presented to me, I let go of the Law so I might live freely in union with the Anointed One. You also know how I clung so stubbornly to the Jewish way of thinking, but then I received even more power to let it go. Chrysostom feels it proved to be a good thing to place this as his final example.

Too often, people will offer a thousand alibis or excuses to justify staying where they are. It seems that they are more comfortable holding on to what they already know and receive additional encouragement by looking at all those who join in the same way of thinking.^[10] So if Paul was, in fact, consciously asking to be emulated, he was only emphasizing the fact that he copied the characteristics of the Anointed One. Thus he is really saying: “Start copying the Lord and me;”^[11] and also, “Copy what I’m doing like I’m copying what the Anointed One did.”^[12] In other words, since they didn’t know the Anointed One as Paul did, what better way for them to be more Anointed One-like than to duplicate what Paul was doing.

Early church writer Ambrosiaster believes that Paul wanted to lower the tone of his chastening and stave off any severe backlash to his criticism.  So, he begins to highlight their good points in hopes they might be encouraged by hearing of their good deeds and make an effort to reform themselves on this subject of augmenting their salvation with Jewish observances. He goes on to say that Paul did not want them to be angered by being further pressured by stronger rebukes. He says that they did not harm him in any way; it was their own wrongdoing that stood in the way.

The Apostle Paul was merely fulfilling the duty contained in the mission assigned to him, which was to preach to them with all determination, as the Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel: “If you warn them and tell them to change their lives and stop doing evil, but they refuse to listen, they will die because they sinned. But since you warned them, you will have saved your own life.^[13]”^[14]  But Ambrosiaster also feels that it was what else God said to the prophet Ezekiel that motivated Paul even more: “If good people stop being good and begin to do evil, and I send something that makes them stumble and sin, they will die because they sinned. But since you did not warn them and remind them of the good things they did, I will make you responsible for their death.”^[15]

Medieval scholar Bruno the Carthusian shares his point of view. These Judaizers started rumors that Paul hated the Galatians for jilting him in their favor, but Paul plans to prove that it was all a lie. He now absolves himself of this charge by praising them for the way they received him and treated him with such kindness. In fact, says Bruno, Paul actually flatters them first because, after a few words of greeting, he is then going to assail them bitterly. Bruno paraphrases the text this way: Be more like me. I’m asking you from the bottom of my heart to remain my loyal brothers and sisters with heartfelt affection for me. What you’ve done didn’t lessen my feelings for you in any way. Why would I hate you so much that I’d feel obliged to conceal the truth? You did me no harm.^[16]

Bible scholar and historian Philip Schaff (1819-1893) hears Paul saying here in verse twelve, pleading with his Christian brothers and sisters in Galatia, “I became like you, so I beg you to become like me.” So, what does the Apostle mean? As Schaff sees it, he is asking the Galatians to imitate infirmity of the flesh He preached the Gospel mirroring his own example, that is, to throw off their Judaizing tendencies and to become simple, dedicated, and consistent believers as he did himself when he too got rid of his former Judaism so he could place himself on a level with them in their pagan state in order to win them to the Anointed One.

Paul then goes on and claims that he abandoned everything for them, so do the same for him.[17] Others take the words, says Schaff, to be an encouragement for them to love him as he loved them, or to enter as fully into his heart and empathy, as he did in theirs by love to identify himself as one of them.^[18] Paul is not saying this out of spite, anger, jealousy, or hurt feelings, but out of genuine love for those he birthed into the Body of Messiah – Jesus. It’s almost like listening to a phone call from a father begging his runaway child to come home.

[1] Wayne G. Rollins; D. Andrew Kille: Psychological Insight into the Bible: Texts and Readings (Kindle Location 1698-1717). Kindle Edition.

[2] 1 Thessalonians 1:6

[3] 1 Corinthians 4:16

[4] Philippians 4:9

[5] Marius Victorinus: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[6] Acts of the Apostles 21:19-21

[7] 1 Corinthians 9:20-23

[8] Philippians 3:7-8

[9] Martin Luther: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[10] Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, loc. cit.

[11] 1 Thessalonians 1:6

[12] 1 Corinthians 2:1

[13] Ezekiel 3:19

[14] Ambrosiaster: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit., p. 23

[15] Ezekiel 3:20

[16] Bruno the Carthusian: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[17] Cf. Galatians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 9:20-21

[18] Philip Schaff: Popular Bible Commentary, op. cit., On Galatians, p. 329

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXVI)

Augustine was no doubt very serious about this problem with people who are saved so easily going back into the cesspool of sin and immorality. He then mourns that even in his own time: many forms of sin, though not just the same as those of Sodom and Gomorrah, are now so openly and habitually practiced. They not only dare we do not excommunicate a layman but challenge us not to degrade a clergyman for the commission of these sins. A few years ago, says Augustine, I was expounding on the Epistle to the Galatians and commenting on that very place where the Apostle talks about wasting his time on the Galatians, I was compelled to exclaim, “Woe to the sins of mankind! for it is only when we are not accustomed to them that they shrink from them, but once they are accustomed to, although the blood of the Son of God was poured out to wash them away; and although they are so far spread that the kingdom of God is wholly shut up against them, yet, constant familiarity leads to the toleration of them all, and habitual toleration leads to the practice of many of them.’’ So, grant, O Lord, prays Augustine, that we may not come to practice all that we lack the power to hinder.^[1]

Augustine continues on this theme when he responds to a letter from Jerome in response to Jerome’s commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. He tells Jerome that he found one thing that caused him great concern. That involved taking some statements which were untrue in themselves but made, as it were, out of a sense of duty in the interest of the Catholic religion to include them in his commentary as if they were Holy Scripture. If this is done, then what authority remains for us said in the whole commentary itself? When this is allowed to be done, what part of these misinterpreted Scriptures is to be taken seriously when such vicious stubbornness of error is easily exposed? For as soon as it’s produced, any opponent will quickly point out that in the passage being used, those misinterpretations are easily found. The opponent then can turn around and accuse the writer of including such falsifications under the pressure of some assumed honorable sense of duty.^[2]

We see this clearly practiced by Pope Gregory (540-604 AD), who claims that in the story of Job,[3] this wise man of Uz represents the Anointed One. He writes that since Job is an inhabitant of the land of Uz, because Wisdom (a personification of the Anointed One), which underwent the pain of the Passion on our behalf, made a habitation for Herself in those hearts, which are natural with the lessons of life. Then Gregory writes: Job’s “seven sons” represent the order of the Preacher, and by his “three daughters,” they represent the weaker multitudes of the faithful, who, though they never adhere with an honorable resolution to perfection of life, yet cling to their belief of the Trinity as taught to them with consistency. These three daughters also signified the three orders of the faithful – Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. He goes on to note that in the Scripture, the title of “oxen” sometimes represents the dullness of the foolish sort, and sometimes the life of those with good intentions. This is an apparent reference to Job’s three friends who at once spoke wise things and then foolish things to Job. And finally, Gregory writes that we are told of five hundred she asses, inasmuch as the Gentiles are called such names. ^[4]

We can clearly see now why it is no mystery that other Roman Catholic teachers and interpreters of Scripture, like Pope Gregory, saw no limit in taking a verse from the Holy Word and giving it their own allegorical interpretation. This would include turning the wine in the communion cup and the bread on the tray into the actual blood and body of Jesus and being baptized into being born again, to say nothing of Peter being the first Pope. And Mary, the mother of Jesus, as also being the product of an immaculate conception and her ascension into heaven, along with praying to the saints.

John Calvin also sees the relevance in Paul’s concern here for the church as well. So, he asks if we may wonder why Paul should be so afraid that he labored in vain that from now on, the Gospel will be of no help to them? And since, Calvin wonders, if this same observance of special holidays, holy months, sacred seasons, and anniversaries is now supported by the Vatican, what sort of the Anointed One or what sort of Gospel does it preach? As far as those things that weigh heavily on people’s consciences, they enforce the observance of days with the same severity as done by Moses. They consider holidays, not less than the false apostles in Galatia did, to be a part of worshiping God, and even add to that the devilish notion of earning merit with God. In fact, the only merit they earn is with the church. The Vatican must, therefore, be held as equally responsible as false apostles, misleading God’s children. Furthermore, with this additional aggravation to find out that these Judaizers proposed keeping those days appointed by the Torah, while the Vatican recognizes only those days stamped with their own seal of approval to be observed as most holy.^[5]

Why trade the freedom found in the Anointed One for religious legalism?  Why throw away the riches of the King of kings, and become beggars once again, pleading with God for mercy based on one’s own merits. That’s the question that haunts the Apostle Paul. He finally shows his exasperation and disappointment by wondering whether or not he wasted his time going to Galatia while he was so physically ill, telling them about Jesus so they might find the joy of true salvation in the Anointed One, all of which left him tired, weary, and exhausted.

I ask this question, what might some of you men think if you bought an old car and spent months and months in junkyards looking for parts to restore it; putting in a new motor, new rims, and tires, repainting it, then polishing it until it shined like a classic roadster in a showroom then giving it to one of your sons, only then to find out he was planning to drive it in a demolition derby? Or what any of you ladies might think if you bought expensive silk material and spent months and months making a beautiful evening gown with lace and painstakingly woven hand-embroidery, and after presenting it to your daughter, you find out she was planning to wear it to go to a mud-wrestling contest?  Paul, no doubt, experienced similar shock and heartbreak over what the Galatians did with the months and months of teaching and preaching he gave them, while tired and worn out with some debilitating impairment he referred to as a “thorn in the flesh.”^[6]

Walter F. Adeney (1849-1920) shares a sermon from R. M. Edgar on the subject of the danger of the legal spirit.[7] Edgar says that if Paul’s preaching only resulted in such an outbreak of legalism, then he would regard his mission among the Galatians would be considered a labor of love lost. There is no difference between the legalism of Judaism and the legalism of idolatry. Both are mere phases of self-righteousness. The Gospel missed its aim altogether if it leaves people still bound in legal bondage. The Gospel is the great force for overthrowing self-righteousness. It liberates the soul from the unrealistic hope of establishing any claim before God on one’s own efforts. It shuts us out, accepting salvation as God’s free gift. It reduces the standing of self-righteousness and elevates righteousness through free grace, a supreme position. That’s why Paul was anxious to see the Galatians brought back from legal bondage to Gospel liberty. Unless they were willing to give up their leadership in conducting rites, rituals, and ceremonies, and decided and committed themselves to place their faith and hope in the Savior alone, then they will be lost without any way of finding salvation. It is most important that the exceeding danger of the legal spirit be constantly kept in view, in order to maintain our firm standing on the solid footing of God’s grace.^[8]

Dr. Nicholas Wright sums it up, noting that the heart of this passage, and perhaps its central theme for the Christian today, is their being called to find true freedom in knowing and being known by the True and Living God. The life of devotion and worship, gazing in adoration at the true God whose character and actions we can never study enough, sets us free from the rule of worldly gods – other gods who continually whisper in our ear that we might actually prefer giving all our time and adoration to them instead. We must ask ourselves, is it easier for our lives to be ruled by the same old line-up of options we chose from before, including our racial or ethnic identity, loyalty to a particular country with its customs and manners, the demands of money, gender identity, and power. Can it be any harder to follow the God revealed in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and learn what true freedom, true humanness, in the fellowship of other followers is all about? But, as Paul goes on to say, there really is no alternative. God acted in grace, and we’ve tasted the blessings of that action. If we go back now, we are denying not only ourselves and our Christian experience, but God himself as being unworthy of our love, attention, and worship.^[9]

In the Contextual Bible, the paraphrase of verses eight to nine fills in some of the meaning that Jewish scholars see missing in the Authorized English Version. It reads: “In the past, before you non-Jews came to know God, you were in bondage to the so-called “gods,” the demon rulers who exercised their power through the framework of religious, legal, and moral systems, keeping all mankind enslaved under this universal framework, to high moral standards and ethics, to all kinds of rules of good and bad conduct, and to social taboos and superstitions, all of which are useless and ineffective in making a person acceptable to the true God. But now that you found the true God (or should I say, now that God found you), and you became free, how can it be that you want to become slaves once again, this time to the Jewish religious, legal and moral system, which is no different from the systems under the demon rulers, from which you were freed, all of them ineffective and useless in making you guiltless and righteous before God, incapable of giving you the rich inheritance that God promised?^[10]

While we don’t have the legalism of Judaism to wrestle with in our Churches today, we have a similar antagonist to deal with. That is the growing tendency of living more and more like the world and accepting it as the new standard for the Christian Church. For instance, excusing the watching of R-rated movies with profanity and nudity; the drinking of alcoholic beverages as a sign of being part of the in-crowd at the party; excusing couples or cohabitating without any intention of marrying because it’s the best way for them to get to know each other – and besides, it’s a natural tendency; and the experimentation with narcotics just as long as it doesn’t develop in an addiction. God forbid that the day will come when the courage, challenges, and commitment of Martin Luther; John Calvin; John Wesley; Charles Spurgeon; Charles Finney; Billy Sunday; William J. Seymour, Billy Graham; Oral Roberts et al. is lost and is no longer counted as worthy of the time, effort, and sacrifice.

[1] Chap. 80, p. 514

[2] The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, Letters of St. Augustine, Letter 40 (397 AD), Ch. 3, p. 511

[3] Job 1:1-3

[4] The Books of the Morals of St. Gregory the Pope: An Exposition on the Book of Blessed Job, Allegorical Interpretation, paras. 15, 20, 19, 23; 24

[5] John Calvin, op. cit., loc. cit

[6] Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

[7] R. M. Edgar: The Return of the Legal Spirit, Text: Galatians 4:8-11, Biblehub.com

[8] Walter F. Adeney: The Century Bible, On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.,

[9] Wright, Nicholas T., op. cit., loc. cit.

[10] The Contextual Bible, op. cit., Location 337-393, Kindle Edition

Michael Miller, researcher, writer, and curator of the Six Seconds blog, asks if we know that emotions are electrochemical signals that flow through us in an unending cycle? They are released in our brains in response to our perceptions about the world. We feel them all the time. Emotions are released in our brains and flow all throughout our bodies. They also are produced in our bodies and go to our brains.

There are 8 basic emotions – and countless variations and nuances of those: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Surprise, Anticipation, Anger, and Trust. There are different models of which are the basic ones, this comes from a scientist named Robert Plutchik, who also created a Wheel of Emotions to illustrate these 8 emotions in a compelling way. It shows visually the dynamism of emotions, like what happens to an emotion when it’s left unchecked and what you get when you combine two emotions, like Anticipation and Joy.

Emotions are neutral. That is to say, some emotions are not inherently good and others bad. It may seem this way, since, for example, joy seems to be a clear winner over sadness. But there are two problems with this way of thinking. The first problem is that joy and sadness have more in common than we think. Joy means I get something I care about. Sadness means I lose something I care about. So they are really two sides of the same need, and we couldn’t have one without the other. And the second problem is that every emotion is simply a signal, delivering a message. Even difficult emotions like fear, anger or sadness are serving an important function.

Emotions function to guide us to survive and thrive. Emotions focus our attention and motivate us toward a specific course of action. Each emotion has a purpose. Take anger, for example. Anger is a signal that our path is blocked. It focuses our attention on the threat and motivates a response of fighting or pushing through the obstacle. It can be used destructively, of course, but it also gives us the energy to find solutions to pressing problems. And what about another emotion, like Joy? Joy focuses our attention on an opportunity and motivates us to do more of whatever we are doing. We feel joy when we experience meaning and connection, and the purpose of the emotion is to tell us that those are good things, which we should seek out.

Emotions are contagious. Feelings spread between people like a virus, even if we’re not paying attention to emotions. Whether we’re in a group or with one other person, we can “catch” both positive and negative emotions. The basis for this is simple: humans have only survived and thrived in groups. We are social creatures. And because of that, we have a tendency to pick up on each other’s emotional states. Think about it this way. If you see fear on someone’s face, you are more likely to survive if you react quickly – if your own fear response is activated instantaneously.

Emotions are different than feelings – and moods. But they are all interrelated, of course. What is the difference?  Basically, time. And to what extent our cognitive thoughts are involved.

Emotions are absorbed in the body in about six seconds. Each burst of emotion chemicals, from the time it’s produced in the hypothalamus to the time it’s completely broken down and absorbed, lasts about six seconds. If we’re feeling something for longer than six seconds, we are – at some level – choosing to recreate and refuel those feelings. Sometimes that’s good – sometimes it’s not. But recognizing what emotion we are feeling, evaluating its purpose relative to our circumstances, and deciding whether to recreate it is what emotional intelligence is all about.

So, what does the Bible say about Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Surprise, Anticipation, Anger and Trust?

Joy – You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Sadness – The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

Fear – Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Disgust – I look at traitors with disgust, because they don’t keep your word. (Psalm 119:158)

Surprise – I am surprised that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. (Galatians 1:6)

Anticipation – Blessed is the person who remains steadfast under trial, for when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.

Anger – is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (Proverbs 30:5)

Trust – When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God whom I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can others do to me? (Psalm 56:3-4)

I’m sure that many of you can think or find additional scripture verses that speak about these emotions. But one thing to notice is this: All the emotions mentioned before are affected by relationships with our fellow human beings, but the ones listed in the Bible are all affected by our relationship with the Lord. That’s what the Apostle Paul found to be true in his life. No wonder he said:  I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.[1] – Dr. Robert R Seyda

[1] Philippians 4:13

The Miracle Baby of the Buffalo Creek Flood

Over Christmas, the Albright family celebrated the birth of the baby Jesus, who was born to save the world.  Without Him, they would all be separated from God and their families forever because of their sins.  They were so grateful for His birth, His Gospel teachings, and His noble sacrifice.

They celebrated with little Kerry, whom Sylvia and Robert Albright adopted when he was born because his young mother was unable to care for him. The family considered it a new start since they just lost a grown son named Terry in the war in Vietnam. They had another son Steven who was preparing to leave for college soon to empty the nest at home. So, they hoped that baby Kerry would fill the void they would feel in their lives.

When Kerry was just nine months old, a river dam above the family home broke, flooding the town.  Young Steven was in the backyard when the water rushed in. He ran in for his mother, who grabbed Kerry. Together they waded through thick mud in their backyard, trying to reach a nearby hill where the neighbors had gathered on higher ground. As they neared the hill in floodwaters up to their chests, Sylvia could tell they wouldn’t make it. She tossed baby Kerry toward friends on the hill, but he fell short of their outstretched hands and landed in the water and was swept away just as Sylvia and Steven lost their footing and were also hurled downstream. Now it looked like all hopes were gone of saving the family.

Hours later, the town preacher and his son were looking for survivors in the thick mud about a half-mile downstream from the Albright home. Suddenly, they had heard a faint cry and ran toward it. It seemed to come from under the silt, so they dug into the sludge and pulled up a mud-caked baby. Using a handkerchief, they wiped out his mouth, and tiny Kerry gasped for air. Wrapping him in one of their coats, they brought him to a nearby rescue house. Robert’s sister-in-law, a nurse, lived there. After cleaning up the little lad and washing the mud out of his mouth, Robert’s sister-in-law recognized him as baby Kerry Albright.

Robert Albright, who just finished his coal mining shift, was stunned to see the devastation where his house had been. Neighbors gave him the sad news of his family. Stunned, he went to his sister-in-law’s home, where his sadness turned to relief when he saw his adopted son Kerry. Kerry had a deep gash on his upper thigh and was bruised and bloodied, but he was alive. Robert said, “He was coal-black all over, he looked just like a tar baby. He had a whole patch of skin tore out of his head, and his leg was cut to pieces. They had been working on him – trying to get all that mud out of his throat.”

It took Robert four hours in a borrowed 4-wheel-drive car to get through the rubble and bring Kerry to the nearest hospital. Doctors didn’t give Kerry much chance to survive his wounds, but they sewed up his leg and bandaged him up. As Robert held him close, the people began to call him the “miracle baby.” It truly was miraculous that he survived when so many able-bodied adults lost their lives.

Robert was distraught at losing almost his whole family. He asked, “Why in the world would God take my wife and my boy and leave this baby like this?  Why couldn’t He have taken me too?”  But he saw how much little Kerry needed him. He devoted the rest of his life to caring for his remaining son. Suffering from “Black Lung” disease because of his many years working in the coal mines, he qualified quickly for disability benefits. Robert retired to take care of Kerry. He learned how to bathe him and feed him and mend his clothes. He learned how to cook simple meals and take care of their home. And he learned how to rock Kerry to sleep. Robert said, “It was just like a whole lifetime was lost in the snap of a finger.  I tell you, if it wasn’t for that child, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

Grown-up now, Kerry recently said, “There’s really no logical explanation for why I survived.  But my father had been through the deaths of his wife and two sons. All he had left was this baby he adopted.  I think I gave him something to live for.” He credits his mother for saving his life and his father for giving him a good upbringing.

Today, Kerry Albright lives in New York City.  But people in Lorado, West Virginia always think of him as the Miracle Baby, when they remember the Buffalo Creek Flood of 1972. One survivor, Gertie Moore, says that Kerry gave the whole town encouragement for those still missing. She said, “He became a representative for all of us in the flood. He’s a very fortunate young man to still be with us. He was always a fine young man. You can’t think of the flood without thinking of the miracle baby.”

Tom Nugent, who wrote this story, believes that every child is precious. Kerry was just the blessing Robert needed to give him a reason to go on with his life after so many losses. God gave Robert, and the whole town hope through Kerry’s miracle. We should never doubt that our Heavenly Father is watching over us all and knows what is best. That’s why we should all be grateful that God sent His Son went through what He did to give us hope to be together forever as families with God.

Not only that, but you may be someone’s “miracle baby” because of all that you’ve been through. So, don’t count your life as worthless just because you lost so much. People are looking to you for inspiration. Always remember, in God’s eyes and the eyes of those around you, you are their precious “miracle baby.” – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXV)

Jewish commentator W. A. Liebenberg writes concerning what Paul says here in verses nine and ten about the observance of certain holy days. Liebenberg notes that many believe that the “days, and months, and seasons, and years” are in reference to the Sabbath and feast-day gatherings that Yahweh commanded in the Torah. They claim that any observance of such things is an attempt to “earn our salvation” rather than trusting in the blood of Yeshua to be our cleansing. Paul is not specific about what “days, and months, and seasons, and years” he is referring to. A nominal Christian might “read into the Scripture” that Paul is condemning the observance of any day, month, time, or year. But even if this were the case, it would actually condemn the nominal Christian because going to church on Sunday would be an observance of a holy day. But is Paul speaking of Yahweh’s commanded observances of the Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, and other such holy days? If so, Paul is condemning himself because he was a Feast keeper.^[1] The key to understanding such issues is simply to ask yourself one question: Does this negatively or positively affect my salvation? If the answer is “No,” then you can decide whether to participate as a matter of custom and respect for what the day was intended to memorialize.

Another Jewish-Christian writer, Avi ben Mordechai, says that the issue here is not that Paul was warning the Galatians to stop the observation of established holy days and festivals contained in the Torah, but those that were fixed outside the Torah,^[2] and sometimes doing it in secret.^[3] In looking at Jewish tradition, Paul’s mention here in verse ten of special days and months and times and years he finds that “days” appear to be set apart days of fasting in the rabbinic Megillat Ta’anit which is called the “Fasting Scroll,” It was included in the Babylonian Talmud (40-70 AD) from oral traditions. It chronicles thirty-five eventful days on which the Jewish nation either performed glorious deeds or witnessed joyful events. These days were celebrated as feast-days. Public mourning was forbidden on fourteen of them, and public fasting on all of them.

Months, says Mordechai, is all about Rosh Chodesh, which means “head of the month” with its rabbinic convocations that are scheduled at the beginning of every Hebrew month. And, as for times, Mordechai notes that this fits mo’dim, which means “an appointed time, a festival” over which the Sanhedrin exercised the authority to set up times, or festivals. And then years, are the closing of any loopholes or elimination of interjections, the Shemitah which means “the seventh or sabbath year,” and the cycles of the Yovel the “year of Jubilee” at the end of seven sabbath years which is known at the Fiftieth Year of Jubilee. Each of these, says Mordechai, are given mountainous interpretations, and each one essentially nullifying Yahweh’s Biblical observances. So, Paul was not talking about those feasts and holy days outlined in Scripture but those concocted by Rabbis and Jewish teachers.^[4]

This may come as a shock to many the Christians, but there are a number of days, months, times, and even years that over time became classified as “Biblical” when in fact, they cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. For instance, hang on to your hat, they are Christmas, Easter, All Saints Day, Lent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Pentecost and Ascension Sunday. There is nothing wrong with taking the time to give thanks to God for each of these events that represent significant times in the life of the Messiah and the Church. In fact, that is the honorable thing to do. But to turn them into required holy days with mandatory participation in order to guarantee one’s salvation is another way of nullifying all that Jesus did on the cross to redeem and save us.

We all may wonder why the Apostle Paul took so much time to emphasize this point on the role that holy days and sacred ceremonies were playing in the life of the believer? If the Apostle were alive today, he no doubt would be just as concerned about this habit of sanctifying everything, even water, just to gain an advantage over others in being devout and holy in their faith. Even in America, it is a well-known saying that if any person is going to go to church, it will be on Easter Sunday. Why? Because they speculate that it will please God and make Him less harsh in His judgment of them. But the real truth is, if the Almighty has any negative reaction, it’s because the giving of His Son to die on our behalf so that we could go from lost sinners to saved saints is being substituted by supposedly good works and not faith.

4:11 I’m very worried about you, that somehow all my hard work for you will turn out to be a complete waste of time.

Paul expresses a similar concern for the Corinthians and is very open about telling them that he is very jealous for them with a jealousy that comes from God. He promised to bring them to the Anointed One. That’s why he planned to present them as a virgin daughter to wed their first and only Husband. He wanted to give them to the Anointed One to be His pure bride. But he is now afraid that their minds are being led away from their true and pure following of the Anointed One. This could happen just as Eve was tricked by that snake with his clever lies.^[5]

Later on, Paul writes that he is still not over his jealousy. He’s afraid that when he visits them, he will not find them as he wanted them to be. And they will not find him as they wished him to be. He’s afraid he will find them fighting among themselves in jealous fits of rage, and arguing and talking about each other and causing all kinds of trouble because each thinks themselves as important, which only causes stress. But there’s more. He’s also afraid that when he gets there, God will make him humble before them because of the way he’s talking to them. He may cry over the loss of some who continue to live in sin. Not only that, but many of them really never changed their hearts and were genuinely sorry for their immoral lives, their sexual immorality, and the shameful things they’ve done.^[6]

But what hurts him most is that all his efforts there in Galatia will turn out to be for nothing. This is something he shared with the prophet Isaiah who once lamented that he worked so hard for nothing. He wore himself out, but he ended up doing nothing useful. He used all his powers of persuasion, but it really didn’t do anything of value. So, the Lord must decide what to do with them. He must determine his reward.^[7] Paul expressed it differently with the Philippians. He told them to keep holding on to the Word of Life. Then when the Anointed One returns, Paul can be happy that he did not work with them for in vain.^[8] And to the Thessalonians, he confessed that when he couldn’t bear the stress any longer, he sent Timothy to find out whether their faith was still strong. He was afraid that perhaps Satan got the best of them and that all his work turned out to be useless.^[9]

In his commentary on Galatians,^[10] Chrysostom does not say this verbally or even under his breath, although Paul comes close to doing it here in verse fourteen. Yet, the tone of what Chrysostom suggests makes it easy to surmise that he knew or understood what a person goes through when rejected. It is like a woman being told by her husband that he wants a divorce. She looks at him with disbelief and tears in her eyes and exclaims, “After all I’ve done for you over the years; the many times I’ve washed your clothes, picked up after you, made your meals, raised your kids, took care of you when you were sick, earned extra money to help cover some of your debts, and now you think you can dismiss all my work as being of no use!” That may, in fact, be how Paul felt about the Galatians.^[11]

Augustine shares how these observances affected the church during his day. He notes that although this passage in Galatians is read so openly and authoritatively in churches throughout the world, there are still congregations full of people who read the horoscope to see what it says about their future. Not only that, but these people often do not hesitate to warn everyone about starting a particular project such as work on a building or other structure on one of the days they call “Egyptian.”^[12] There’s an old saying that applies to such people, “They don’t know where they’re going.” But if this passage is to be understood as referring to the superstitious observances of the Jews, what hope is there for them as Christians if they end up shipwrecked on the rocks due to their constant use of human fortunetellers?

Augustine then goes on to say that if they were to constantly and habitually follow the Jewish custom and observe special times listed in the Torah that God gave to them while they were still wandering in the wilderness instead of in the Promised Land, would hear the Apostle saying to them: I fear that my labor for you was in vain. That’s why, if any believer, even a catechumen,^[13] is caught observing the Sabbath according to the Jewish practice, the church goes into an uproar. However, countless numbers of the faithful boldly tell us to our face of taboos they refuse to go against, says Augustine. For instance, “I never begin a trip on the second day of the month.”^[14]

In another writing, Augustine deals with certain Christian misbehaviors spoken of in Scripture that some treated as trifling and of little importance. Is such action possible when the Word of God clearly shows that they are more serious than we think? For instance, is it possible that someone saying to their brother, “You fool,” is no longer in danger of hell-fire,^[15] even though the Anointed One said so? Still, for the guilty, the Anointed One immediately supplied a remedy by adding the precept of brotherly reconciliation: “If, therefore, you are offering a gift at the altar, and remember there that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar (not “on” the altar). First, go and be reconciled to them, then come back and offer your gift.”^[16] Or, who would think that it is a great sin to observe certain days, months, years, and seasons – like those people who will or will not begin projects on certain days or in certain months or years,[17] because they follow senseless human superstitions and assume that some seasons are lucky and some unlucky – if we do not recognize the magnitude of this practice from the Apostle Paul’s own fear, “I’m afraid I wasted my time on you.?”^[18]

[1] W. A. Liebenberg: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., p. 77

[2] Cf. Mark 3:2; Luke 14:1, 20:19-20

[3] Acts of the Apostles 9:23-24

[4] Avi ben Mordechai: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 52

[5] 2 Corinthians 11:2-3

[6] Ibid. 12:20-21

[7] Isaiah 49:4

[8] Philippians 2:16

[9] 1 Thessalonians 3:5

[10] Chrysostom: Commentary on Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit., Galatians 4:11, Fear of Laboring in Vain, p. 62

[11] Edwards, M. J. (Ed.). On Galatians, op. cit., p. 61

[12] Before the introduction of astrology, ancient Egyptians used the solar calendar exclusively, marking their days and years by the position of the stars.  They also used a lunar calendar to designate their religious festivals and rituals. So such days were often referred to as “Egyptian Days.”

[13] This is a Latin term for either a convert taking instructions before baptism or a young member of the church preparing for confirmation.

[14] Augustine: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[15] Matthew 5:22

[16] Ibid. 5:23-24

[17] Today we have such superstitions as “Don’t walk under a ladder,” “Don’t let a black cat cross your path,” Don’t look into a broken mirror,” “Carrying a rabbit’s foot will bring good luck,” etc.

[18] Augustine: Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love by Albert C. Outler, Ch. 21, p. 68

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXIV)

I do not know of too many Protestants today who criticize those of the Roman Catholic faith who honor the saints or memorialize the martyrs for their faithfulness. But some say that in all fairness, shouldn’t they also commemorate those martyrs who died for their faith who were Christian but not necessarily part of the Roman Catholic Church? In fact, some were burned at the stake at the request of Roman Catholic priests. Also, while the memory of these saints and martyrs are surely precious to all believers, does it not cross the line when they are elevated to a position of being adored as intercessors and advocates before the Father in heaven and between believers and the Anointed One when Jesus Himself is the Biblically identified advocate with God the Father and the Holy Spirit as our intercessor before the Father and Son?

English Methodist pastor and theologian Joseph Agar Beet (1840-1924) makes an interesting point when he notes that the weekly day of rest was ordained as a Sabbath is not proven to be the case by appealing to Genesis 2:3, or 2:7. Even God’s message to Ezekiel only emphasized that this seventh day was designed for resting, and while resting, it was a special sign of their relationship with God, much like the rainbow given to Noah. At the same time, what we read in Genesis 8:10, 12  about Noah sending out a dove to find land and in 29:27 when Jacob was informed how long he must work in order to get Rachael as his wife suggests that the number seven was already used as a division of time, and signified completion.

Of course, says Beet, we know of no calendars being made at that time with weeks of seven days stacked on top of one another as our calendars do, but life was a continuous line of days with every seventh day observed as a day of rest. The word “remember,” in Exodus 20:8, if it is anything more than an emphatic form of the parallel phrase “keep the Sabbath day” in Deuteronomy 4:12, refers doubtless to the institution of the Sabbath in Exodus 16:29-30.

Beet concludes, there is certainly no proof or suggestion that the Sabbath was ordained earlier than the departure from Egypt. Indeed, taken together, the above casual and uncertain notes carry little weight as evidence either that the Sabbath was not, or was, ordained earlier than the Exodus. But the double supply of manna on the sixth day with no manna on the seventh, and the solemn ordinance of the Sabbath in Exodus 16:25-30 before the giving of the Ten Commandments are additional marks of honor to the weekly Day of Rest.^[1]

Methodist minister and prominent teacher Arno C. Gaebelein (1861-1945) takes a swipe at those in the Christian community who continue to perpetuate the practices of the heathens of turning worshiping God into a matter of rites, rituals, and ceremonies. He sees Paul accusing these Galatians that by imitating the ceremonial laws of Judaism it was the same as turning back to the weak and beggarly elementary things in which they, as Gentiles, were heathenistic. They were, practically, turning again to what they, by the grace of God, left to live in freedom.

Didn’t they remember that as unconverted Gentiles they participated in assorted ceremonies, various offerings, and observed different days by which they tried to please their supposed gods? Ritualistic observances upon Christian reasoning says Gaebelein, is more than a perverted gospel: they are heathenistic in principle. We’ve all seen African fetish-priests attire themselves in fantastic, colorful costumes, then take a rattle to shake while dancing, and mumbling something in an unintelligible way. Then they declare that what they are doing will induce the gods to send rain, or help bring in the hunted wild game for feeding the village, even gaining victory over an enemy.

Now, notes Gaebelein, in a magnificent edifice enclosure, “a church,” stands an individual wearing different colored robes. This person goes through different ceremonies, bows and crosses themselves, mumbles something in a foreign language, then lifts up a receptacle before which the people bow in worship. They claim that, through them, blessings will come upon the people. It appears that both the African heathen-priest and the ritualistic-priest follow the same principle, and the practice of the so-called “the Anointed One’s priest” is as much heathenish as the practice of the others. This includes the observance of special holy days, months, and years. The Gospel of the Messiah teaches us nothing about observing certain days and seasons such as holy-days. All these special saint-days and most of the feast-days kept in Christendom are traceable back to heathen and Jewish practices.^[2]

The fact that Jews chose to respect special Sabbath services was one way to show honor to that day, but they were not satisfied with leaving it as something simple. According to the most recent information on Jewish Shabbat Laws, the following restrictions are still applicable:

The explanation follows: Does all this mean that Shabbat is somewhat of a miserable affair, where we sit hungry in the dark? Not at all. It simply means that we must prepare for Shabbat in advance, so that, on the contrary, we celebrate in luxury, without doing any of the actual work, on Shabbat.^[3] Which raises another question: How does this show respect and honor for all that God did in creating the world to His specifications and for His purpose? Not to be left out, the Christians should ask the same question when they explain why they observe Sunday as this holy day of rest.

British theologian Nicholas T. Wright sees a comparison here between the Galatians returning to their old ways, with the children of Israel after coming out of Egypt but wanting to go back because their free life in the wilderness seemed more desperate than their imprisoned life in Egypt. He sees that this mental picture of the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites lies behind Paul’s impassioned appeal to the Galatians. They, too, came out of the “Egypt” of idolatry of worshiping false gods. They were set free, redeemed by the personal action of the One True God through His Son and His Spirit. Now, it appears they looked at the wide and wonderful life in grace, but its freedom worried them. So, they are determined to return once more to the world where life seems safer, more regulated, where you know where you are. In other words, to the life of slavery. They are, Paul declares, choosing to go back where they were before, back to the old pagan gods they worshiped before being set free by the Living God.^[4]

Modern commentator Robert Gundry points to Paul’s question on how is it that by the Galatians now “turning back again” to such elements and, thereby, once again subjecting themselves to the Law puts them back into the same condition of slavery they endured under pagan religions? That being in such enslavement of a monotheistic Law is no better than the polytheistic rules and regulations they slaved under before. He also goes on to point out that Paul’s reference to religious calendars was applicable to both Jews and non-Jews in the congregation because both Hebrews and Gentiles used such calendars that tied them to various religious duties, rites, and rituals. No wonder Paul felt so frustrated that he began to reflect on all the time and effort it took to bring the Gospel of Jesus the Anointed One to these otherwise forever lost and helpless people.^[5]

Messianic Jewish writer Thomas Lancaster points to other writers who share his view that here Paul is speaking only to the non-Jewish members of the congregations in Galatia.^[6] That nothing of what Paul says here should be applied to the Torah and the Jewish Sabbaths, feast days, and holy days that they observe as part of their obedience to the Torah. However, there is nothing in what Paul says here that suggests that the proselyte Jews and non-Jews who became Christians were turning back into heathenism and celebrating the religious holidays of the cults they once belonged to. This whole epistle is based on the fact that Messianic Jewish teachers claiming they were sent by James from Jerusalem, were teaching the Galatian believers to join them in celebrating the mandates of the Torah that was tied to their faith in being righteous and attaining eternal life through good works in compliance with the Law. For those born as Jews, this meant the daily, monthly, and yearly rites, rituals, and observances they adhered to as part of the religious calendar, and for the non-Jews, it pointed to the fact that if they were going to follow their Jewish brethren it was a no greater error than if they did, in fact, go back to their pagan ways of celebrating certain days and seasons of the year.

Jewish scholar David Stern agrees that Paul was speaking to the Gentiles about their pagan holidays, but since they were now followers of the Messiah, they were also being pressured into observing the Jewish holidays that made no connection with anything celebrated in Jesus’ teachings, life, or events.  He goes on to say that what Paul says here about certain religious observances does not prohibit the celebration of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and other events in Christian calendars followed by various Christian denominations. In contrast with the Jewish holidays, the Bible neither requires nor gives a license for celebrating these holidays a test of one’s faith.^[7]

[1] Joseph A. Beet: On Galatians, op. cit., p. 115

[2] Arno Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible, Kindle Location 36411-36425

[3] From Chabad.org whose mission statement is – Utilize internet technology to unite Jews worldwide, empower them with knowledge of the 3,300-year-old tradition, and foster within them a deeper connection to Judaism’s rituals and faith.

[4] Wright, N. T: On Galatians, op. cit., pp. 48-49.

[5] Robert H. Gundry: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[6] D. Thomas Lancaster: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit., pp. 204-206

[7] Stern, David H., Jewish New Testament Commentary, loc. cit.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson XXIII)

Thomas Aquinas gives a somewhat philosophical answer to the question of whether during the reign of the Law, the ceremonies prescribed by the Law possessed any power to justify? He answers that it did up to a certain point. They were justified as being called right in that they met the demands of the Law, but it did not justify them before God, making them eligible for everlasting life. They passed the test with the Law but failed the test with God. The Law required physical cleanliness but not spiritual purity, something the Law was unable to do. The sacrifice of lambs satisfied the Law, but only the death of the Lamb of God could satisfy God. The blood of animal sacrifices only covered their sins while it required the blood of the Lamb of God to wash away their sins.

Aquinas goes on to say that these animal sacrifices and physical washing possessed no power of purging uncleanness from the soul, namely, from the filth of sinful tendencies. The reason for this was because sin is only removed through the death and blood of the Anointed One.^[1] And since the mystery of the Messiah’s Incarnation and Passion was not yet revealed, those ceremonies of the Old Law contained in them no power flowing from the Anointed One as being already incarnate and crucified, such as the sacraments of the New Law would include. Consequently, they failed to cleanse from sin. That’s why the Apostle Paul says, “…it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats’ sin is taken away.”^[2] That’s why here in verse nine, Paul calls them “weak and lacking elements.” Weak indeed, because they cannot take away sin; but this weakness results from their being needy, namely, from the fact that they do not contain any love, grace, and forgiveness within themselves.^[3]

Paul was also targeting the Gentile believers and those pagan holidays used to worship their idol gods.  Later on, in his letter, he admonishes the Jewish believers and asks them why they continued to observe those Jewish holidays and feasts in order to merit favor from God. He wanted them to know that when they celebrate Jesus, all the intentions of those feasts are fulfilled in Him. Therefore, as Christians, we must ask ourselves why we celebrate our Christian holidays? What is our purpose for all the decorations and displays used to show our gratitude for those days that make them holy? Do we honestly feel that God is moved to grant us more favor and give us special attention when we do so?

As a matter of fact, it is hard to find anywhere that Jesus points to any single day and tells His followers to make it a special holiday. The only ordinances that our Lord gave special meaning to were water baptism, communion, and washing each other’s feet. These were all meant to serve the purpose of reminding us of what He did for us through His suffering and death on the cross, but never intended to become holy days. Therefore, it seems logical that no matter which day we choose to stop and reflect on what happened in the life of the Anointed One, that the emphasis is on remembering Him for all He did for us, not just memorializing the day itself. Furthermore, the days we do celebrate are meaningless unless we do them out of love and gratitude for the One who saved us, and the One we serve.

Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) addressed this same issue. He mentions that he plans no condemnation to such observance of dates as part of civil society. This is all fixed based on the way nature works and is permanent and constant. How else can months and years be computed if it were not for the revolution of the sun and moon? What distinguishes summer from winter, or spring from autumn by the appointment of God, – an appointment promised to continue to the end of the world?^[4] The traditional observation of days contributes not only to agriculture, matters of politics, and ordinary life, but is even extended to the government of the church. So, we must ask, what was the nature of the observances which Paul disapproves of? It was that which binds the conscience in a religious context thought necessary to the worship of God. And those Paul mentions in his Epistle to the Romans as being given important religious emphasis one day over another.^{[5] [6]} We see this today in the practice of the Seventh Day Adventists that worship on Saturday in contrast to the Catholic and Protestant churches who worship on Sunday.

Wesleyan theologian Adam Clarke (1760-1832) makes the point that if the Galatians were going back to their former way of righteous living worship, it is evident that they were still addicted to them as formalities making their salvation more holy based on works. This certainly was possible seeing that they converted from heathenism to Judaism, and from Judaism to Christianity.^[7] Clarke feels that Paul’s disappointment was in fact that such rites were too weak to counteract their sinful habits and too poor to purchase pardon and eternal life for them, so why push aside the Way, the Truth, and the Life for something so anemic and powerless. Clarke goes on to note that Paul identifies these useless rituals as those tied to days, months, and years. But none of this should be taken as a license to stop singing, praying, worshipping, and fellowshipping together as the family of God.

Catholic writer Cornelius à Lapide (1567 -1637) uses verse nine to take a poke at others around him. He begins by pointing out that Paul regards all people without distinction as having been under the Law as their tutor, and accuses the Galatians of again setting up, by their actions, the obsolete rites of Judaism. But it’s necessary to look at the word slavery again, not to the whole but to the part, as signifying only that slavery was restored in general, not particularly in this or that. The Galatians at one time served idols, and afterward, Judaism, and they are here exhorted not to become slaves once more, whether to demons or to Jewish illusions. Lapide takes a Calvinist, for example, who embraced the Catholic faith and afterward slipped back into Calvinism. The question may be asked: How can you lapse again into Calvinism, that is, into protestant teaching? It is not Calvinism that is the significant word, but lapse and the force of the question lie in its appeal against deserting the Catholic faith for the heresy of any kind whatsoever.^[8] Obviously, Lapide did not realize the opposite was true. Reform means made better.

Church of England priest William Law (1686-1761) who lost his position at Emmanuel College, Cambridge because he refused to take an oath of allegiance to any king other than the King of Kings, appealed to other clergy to be aware of what Paul says here in verse nine concerning the “bondage of the weak and beggarly elements of the world.” When the Anointed One was here on earth, He instructed the disciples in heavenly truths, enabling them to work miracles in His Name while yet unqualified to know and teach the mysteries of His kingdom. After his resurrection, while conversing with them, He breathed on them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit.^[9]” Yet, even this was not enough to qualify them to preach or bear witness to the truth.

Law says that the reason for this was their need for a higher anointing to come. For although He told His disciples the necessity of being born again of the Spirit, He also told them that it was necessary that He go away because until He goes away the comforter, they needed in order to minister will not come. But He promised that once He went away, He would send the Comforter to them, who was the Spirit of truth, the One to guide them into all truth that will glorify Him.^[10] In the meantime, there were not to go out and preach or teach but remain in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high; that they would receive power, after that the Holy Spirit came on them. Then, and only then would they share their testimony about Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the furthest part of the earth.^[11]

From this, says Law, there are two essential and fundamental truths to be learned. First, that the truth and perfection of the Gospel dispensation could not begin until the Anointed One was glorified, and His kingdom in the world resulted in an immediate, continual outreach of the Holy Spirit. That everything up until now was subservient to the Law for a period of time in preparation for this last dispensation of Grace. Everything else was communicated through types, figures, and shadows of the real thing, leading to the actual possession and enjoyment of that which is the spirit and truth of divine life. For an ending is not possible without a beginning; that is, the future God holds for mankind will not become a reality until an end is brought to the “bondage of weak and beggarly elements,” that Paul speaks of here. It ends up restoring the human race to that personal relationship with God they enjoyed in the beginning.^[12]

In other words, after that close and personal kinship humanity experienced before Adam’s fall was broken, they’ve attempted for centuries to reestablish it on their own from the Tower of Babel using objects in the sky and on the ground to represent the God they lost touch with, using the forms of objects and idols. God even gave the Law to Moses to bring them closer, but only the children of Israel were given that privilege. It wasn’t until He sent His Son, the Messiah came that this bond was reestablished, putting an end to all their idols, altars, ceremonies, feasts, rites, rituals, festivals, laws, and moral laws. Now there is but One who is able to clear away the debris and cement that fusion with the Almighty, His name is Jesus the Anointed One.

Another Roman Catholic writer, George Haydock (1774–1849), agrees that the same conflict that Paul finds here between the Christian believers in Galatia and the Messianic Jewish teachers who came to instruct them on the necessity of continuing Jewish observances, now caused friction between the Catholic and Protestants that continued up to his day. He mentions that some of the later reformers used Paul’s text here to criticize the feasts and holy days kept by Roman Catholics. Jerome, in his commentary on these words, tells us that some already made a similar objection in his time (347–420 AD).

Haydock believes that Jerome’s answer to such criticism as a key to defusing such contention and put a stop to this unnecessary rashness. That is that Christians continue observing Sunday as their day of worship instead of Saturdays as the Jews do. Also, Christians are to continue keeping certain holy days and days on which great saints suffered martyrdom. Let everyone take note that while the dates may be different, the motives of keeping them is the same.[13] (It is also important to take note that the Jews observe no holy days that celebrate Moses’ birth or death. In fact, neither the day they were led out of Egypt, and the day they entered the Promised Land is not celebrated as a national holiday.) What Haydock does not address is the idea that keeping such holy days is important to one’s salvation and loyalty to the Church that will save them.

[1] John 1:29

[2] Hebrews 10:4

[3] Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica, op cit., Part 2a-Question 103-Answer 2, p. 1224

[4] See Genesis 8:22: “So long as the earth will exist, sowing time and harvesting time, summer and winter, day and night will follow a regular pattern.”  – The translation used by Rabbi Abraham Saba in Tzror Hamor.  The Rabbi goes on to say that this is meant to tell mankind that retribution, when it does come, will not be delayed as it was until the deluge occurred.  May must remain on his guard day and night not to offend his Creator by his conduct. p. 159

[5] See Romans 14:5

[6] John Calvin: Commentary on Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[7] Adam Clarke: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

[8] Cornelius à Lapide: On Galatians, op. cit., loc. cit.

[9] John 20:22

[10] Ibid. 16:1-15

[11] Acts of the Apostles 1:8

[12] William Law: Address to the Clergy, op. cit., pp. 12-13

[13] George Haydock: Catholic Bible Commentary, loc. cit.