Posted on 08/08/2018 2:17:32 PM PDT by pcottraux
This is the first of a new vlog series I'm starting on why the books of the New Testament were written. We'll be doing these in historical order, starting with Galatians (49 AD). Hopefully everyone will enjoy this Wednesday night Bible study! I'm hoping to have new videos up every Tuesday, but I may not get around to sharing them until Wednesdays. We'll see.
Video clocks in at 17:17. I decided to post it in General because the subject focuses more on the ancient historical context of the New Testament rather than the theology.
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I’m looking forward to checking it out. Thanks!
So what is the Cliff Notes version? Why was Galatians written?
Thank You My Brother in Christ, excellent video
Please add me to the Pentecost ping list as well
God Bless
Ping please. Thanks!
(Sorry --- I couldn't resist!) :-)
Why was Galatians written?
“So that the letter would be read by the Galatian recipients”
That’s a relief - it seemed for a moment that it might only be to get clicks on someone’s blog.
Apparently, the members of the congregations of the new churches Paul was setting up were hearing conflicting messages. They were hearing one thing from Paul, and something completely different from "the Judahizers", the followers of the teachings of the Jerusalem church, of which the top guy was James, the brother of Jesus. Paul was arguing his case that he knew more about what it took to be saved than James did.
Thanks.
I hope it meets your expectations!
It would seem it treats with the argument that faith trumps good works.
Basically after Paul had planted 4 churches across South Galatia (his first missionary journey), a group of radical Jewish converts had gone behind him and undermined his teaching, telling those young Christians that they had to convert to Judaism and obey all the Jewish laws and customs before they could be Christians. The Galatian churches sent Paul an angry letter wanting to know why he hadn’t told them about the Law, and Galatians is his response.
I will try to be a little less long-winded and repetitive next week (Why James Was Written).
Thanks, you are both added!
New blogs every Saturday, new videos every Tuesday. Though sometimes I don’t get them on FR till the day after. :)
I could have just said this...but man, what a short video!
Thanks for the summary.
I could have just said this...but man, what a short video!
I don't think the dietary laws, and circumcision and whatnot really fall into the category of "good works". I see them more as just complying with the laws God set down in the original covenant. Until Paul came along, nobody doubted that the original rules still applied. And as rules, they're more for demonstrating that you recognize God as Lord, and seek to please Him.
As you say, Galations was written before any of the four gospels, so it seems to me that if Paul (who never met Jesus) was preaching something completely different than Jesus's brother (who spent his whole life talking with Jesus), James was probably more in line with how Jesus viewed the Levitical laws than Paul was.
I think Paul was so intent on attracting non-Jews to his new religion, that he found ways to convince himself that the rules didn't apply anymore. Too hard to get the Greeks to fully sign up if you tell them they have to get circumcised first. And once you throw out one of the rules, you might as well throw them all out. Just tell the people that there are no more rules anymore and that faith is the only important thing.
You’ve got some interesting content. The book of James was probably written shortly before Galatians. James also penned the first “epistle” to the church which is not a book on its own but is a very brief letter preserved for us in the book of Acts.
It is incorrect to say that Paul taught for Jewish Christians to abandon either the commandments of the Law of Moses or even the customs of Judaism (as long as those customs did not contradict the Law).
Acts 21:21 & 25
[The Jewish believers in Jerusalem] have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs... But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.
Paul and all of the apostles agreed and taught that Gentiles did not need to keep the Law of Moses. This is not referring to the Ten Commandments which are all reiterated for all followers of Christ (though the command to labor 6 days and rest on the “Sabbath” is applied spiritually rather than by observing days). However, Jewish Christians, including Paul, continued to follow the Law of Moses.
Acts 16:3
Paul wanted to have [Timothy] go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.
Paul, who wrote in Galatians that “Christ will profit you nothing” if you become circumcised, took Timothy and circumcised him! Why? Because Timothy was ethnically Jewish on his mother’s side.
What did Paul teach regarding the practices of Judaism?
1 Corinthians 7:17-18
As the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches. Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
Notice the scope is universal: he taught this in ALL churches.
Notice the application: everyone should remain in the status they have when they come to Christ. Jews remain Jews. Gentiles remain Gentiles.
Paul continued to participate in things that were strictly Jewish, such as celebrating Jewish feasts and making offerings in the Temple.
Acts 21:26
Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.
He was falsely accused of bringing Gentiles into the Temple, which was forbidden. Gentiles were only allowed into the courtyard. The accusers were mistaken because they saw Paul socializing with Gentiles, and this was against their tradition of separating company from Gentiles. This is one of many unbiblical customs that Christ rebuked the Jewish leaders for and which Paul even had to correct Peter for going along with.
It is Biblical to advocate that Gentile believers should not convert to Judaism nor make it their aim to implement the Law of Moses, intended for Jewish people. Gentiles SHOULD conform with the Law of Moses as Gentile sojourners when in the land of Israel, as the text supports. (There is not a temple right now, but an application would be for Gentile Christians not to violate this prohibition.) And it is Biblical to instruct Jewish believers to follow the Law—not for salvation but as a way of serving God and being a testimony.
IMO, that sounds like the way somebody would describe the followers of the Jerusalem church if they only hear the side presented by Paul (who strongly resisted the constraints James tried to place on him), and by Luke, who acted as Paul's spin doctor when he wrote the book of Acts.
Fair enough, but I don't recall ever saying that. The problem is that the Judaizers were teaching that conversion to Judaism was required for salvation, and demanding Gentiles abandon customs (eating a non-kosher diet, requiring circumcision, etc.). Paul's intention was that one's salvation doesn't depend on these things.
It is Biblical to advocate that Gentile believers should not convert to Judaism nor make it their aim to implement the Law of Moses, intended for Jewish people.
And that's exactly what I'm saying. Not sure where you got "Paul commanded people to abandoned Judaism" from.
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