Musing 70
After Paul’s moment of venting towards the Galatians about the distortion of the gospel plaguing them, he moves on to giving an autobiography.
When I was younger, it felt a bit weird to me that Paul starts replying to the Judaizers with an accounting of his ministry. The part of me that likes to argue and think things through was just like “get to the point, Paul”. But as I’ve gotten older, it no longer feels like a parent just saying “you need to trust me”. The Judaizers’ claims rely on the fact that the Jews knew the Mosaic Law. They knew that was where God had spoken.
They’re going – “Who’s this Paul guy going around saying that to be saved and experience the full blessing of God we don’t need to be circumcised and follow the Law. Sure, Jesus is the Messiah, but even He said He didn’t come to abolish the Law. So why are these Gentiles running around not getting circumcised?? They need to be brought into the covenant that we all did!”
Remember, in the Judaizers’ minds, they were most likely not going around intentionally trying to deceive people. They were saying “hey, it’s great you believe in Christ, we do too! But to really follow Christ, you need to be circumcised so that you’re part of the Mosaic covenant too.”
And so to counter this, Paul has to remind the Galatians, “hey, this is where the gospel came from. It didn’t start with me, so take it up with God”.