Pulling a crumpled-up Satan out of the trash
This week's revolutionary Bible goodness is extracted from Galatians 4:8-11
The Galatian church was a Gentile church set up by Paul, pretty much by accident, because he was sick and needed to recover. These verses are in the middle of a rather long letter to that church. These Christians were all new Christians. The church hadn't been around for generations. They had all left pagan Roman worship for Christianity, at least mostly. These were new believers who had seemed to get it, but ultimately made some mistakes.
This isn't a "blah blah Pharisees blah blah organized church etc" rant on Paul's part. These aren't people clinging to an old way of doing church that isn't relevant to the times. These are "unchurched" new believers, who ironically enough, should know better. They made a decision to leave the old religion. This isn't a case of the new wine in the old wineskin. There was never an old wineskin in the first place with these people.
Like in most of his letters, Paul is angry and frustrated. These people should know better! As Gentiles, they don't have all of the complicated stuff floating around their heads about circumcision, the laws of Moses, hundreds of years of Jewish tradition, etc. It's not like there's a big gray area between their old faith and their new faith, like there could be for the Jews. There's the complicated Roman system of festivals and Jupiter and Mars and all of the other Roman deities to worry about, in one hand, and in the other there's the freedom of Jesus Christ. There's nothing in common between them at all. What would possess them to go running after Jupiter's things while still holding onto Jesus Christ? What does he have that they need?
The festivals were a big part of Roman culture, though. The year was structured around them. All of your friends would have gone to them. You were expected to be seen there. Imagine being told that you had to give up New Years Eve, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas when you became a Christian. Imagine having to give up watching sports with your friends and all of the cheering and bonding that goes along with it. Suddenly it doesn't seem so easy to make the switch. Maybe God won't notice if you sort of include that stuff back into your life, because you know. Is God really going to send you to hell for dressing as a witch and eating a bag of candy?
Paul's point is that the Galatians had already decided to give that stuff up. They'd made a clean break from the old life. Why go back when you've already been set free? Is the candy sweet enough to justify muddying and confusing your faith? Are the fireworks so impressive that it's worth blurring your friends' understanding of which God you serve? Is that circle of friends that insists you spend every Sunday yelling at an idolatrous image worth diluting your connection with God? (Note, I'm using modern imagery to describe the situations the Romans were in. I'm not saying modern holidays and pastimes are satanic in any way.) Paul is like "Dudes, you were almost there! What happened? Why are you making a mess of this?"
We're not Galatian Christians in the first century with a history of pagan idol worship (hopefully), but Paul's point is still useful for us to hear. If God has delivered us from something, if we've given that something up, what good reason could we possibly have for picking it back up again? Do we want to be enslaved again?
We can act like the Roman pagans were pretty stupid for going back to idol worship and celebrating false gods, but when you take into account the social aspects and the years of believing it was OK, are they really that different from us? Is someone who gives up porn, or cigarettes, or alcoholism, or witchcraft, only to go back to it, really any different than those formerly-ex-pagan believers? It was dumb then, and it's dumb now. Two thousand years of stupidity and we're still proudly carrying the torch.
Don't dig around in the trash for something you no longer need. Let it go. It was thrown out for a reason. Ask God for something new. Ask God for new friends, if the old ones are killing you. Ask for reasons to celebrate him, and not some pitchfork-holding fish-man, or whatever the modern equivalent is. Did God waste his time setting you free? No! Put it down. Step away. Be free.
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
The Galatian church was a Gentile church set up by Paul, pretty much by accident, because he was sick and needed to recover. These verses are in the middle of a rather long letter to that church. These Christians were all new Christians. The church hadn't been around for generations. They had all left pagan Roman worship for Christianity, at least mostly. These were new believers who had seemed to get it, but ultimately made some mistakes.
This isn't a "blah blah Pharisees blah blah organized church etc" rant on Paul's part. These aren't people clinging to an old way of doing church that isn't relevant to the times. These are "unchurched" new believers, who ironically enough, should know better. They made a decision to leave the old religion. This isn't a case of the new wine in the old wineskin. There was never an old wineskin in the first place with these people.
Like in most of his letters, Paul is angry and frustrated. These people should know better! As Gentiles, they don't have all of the complicated stuff floating around their heads about circumcision, the laws of Moses, hundreds of years of Jewish tradition, etc. It's not like there's a big gray area between their old faith and their new faith, like there could be for the Jews. There's the complicated Roman system of festivals and Jupiter and Mars and all of the other Roman deities to worry about, in one hand, and in the other there's the freedom of Jesus Christ. There's nothing in common between them at all. What would possess them to go running after Jupiter's things while still holding onto Jesus Christ? What does he have that they need?
The festivals were a big part of Roman culture, though. The year was structured around them. All of your friends would have gone to them. You were expected to be seen there. Imagine being told that you had to give up New Years Eve, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas when you became a Christian. Imagine having to give up watching sports with your friends and all of the cheering and bonding that goes along with it. Suddenly it doesn't seem so easy to make the switch. Maybe God won't notice if you sort of include that stuff back into your life, because you know. Is God really going to send you to hell for dressing as a witch and eating a bag of candy?
Paul's point is that the Galatians had already decided to give that stuff up. They'd made a clean break from the old life. Why go back when you've already been set free? Is the candy sweet enough to justify muddying and confusing your faith? Are the fireworks so impressive that it's worth blurring your friends' understanding of which God you serve? Is that circle of friends that insists you spend every Sunday yelling at an idolatrous image worth diluting your connection with God? (Note, I'm using modern imagery to describe the situations the Romans were in. I'm not saying modern holidays and pastimes are satanic in any way.) Paul is like "Dudes, you were almost there! What happened? Why are you making a mess of this?"
We're not Galatian Christians in the first century with a history of pagan idol worship (hopefully), but Paul's point is still useful for us to hear. If God has delivered us from something, if we've given that something up, what good reason could we possibly have for picking it back up again? Do we want to be enslaved again?
We can act like the Roman pagans were pretty stupid for going back to idol worship and celebrating false gods, but when you take into account the social aspects and the years of believing it was OK, are they really that different from us? Is someone who gives up porn, or cigarettes, or alcoholism, or witchcraft, only to go back to it, really any different than those formerly-ex-pagan believers? It was dumb then, and it's dumb now. Two thousand years of stupidity and we're still proudly carrying the torch.
Don't dig around in the trash for something you no longer need. Let it go. It was thrown out for a reason. Ask God for something new. Ask God for new friends, if the old ones are killing you. Ask for reasons to celebrate him, and not some pitchfork-holding fish-man, or whatever the modern equivalent is. Did God waste his time setting you free? No! Put it down. Step away. Be free.
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