Sha’ul’s Letter to the Galatians ~ Part 11

We pause the ongoing story of Sha’ul to examine his Letter to the Galatians.

In our last post, we left off in Chapter 4:7 with Sha’ul describing the Law & Faith. In this post, he continues to explain his Doctrine of Justification.

Return to Legalism

⁸ In the past, when you did not know God, you served as a slave to beings (idols), which in reality are non-gods.

The Gentiles to whom Sha’ul is writing served idols before they came to put their trust in Yeshua.

⁹ But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more? ¹⁰ You observe special days, months, seasons, and years! ¹¹ I fear for you that my work among you has been wasted!

Sha’ul’s readers had established an authentic relationship with God through faith in Yeshua. He asked how they could turn back again and be enslaved to a viewpoint of justification by works that were as weak and bankrupt as the elemental forces they had worshiped before (v. 3). The presence of the Jewish teachers in Galatia makes it likely that the special days were Sabbath observances. At the same time, months and seasons had to do with longer seasons of the Jewish calendar (e.g., the time from Pesach to Shavuot). Years would be sabbatical years or the year of Jubilee. Since those in the Galatian churches were back where they started before Sha’ul arrived – enslaved spiritually – he feared that his best efforts had been wasted.

Sha’ul Calls on Their Love

¹² Brothers, I beg of you: put yourselves in my place – after all, I put myself in your place. It isn’t that you have done me any wrong – ¹³ you know that it was because I was ill that I proclaimed the Good News to you at first; ¹⁴ and even though my physical condition must have tempted you to treat me with scorn, you did not display any sign of disdain or disgust. No, you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God as if I had been the Messiah Yeshua himself! ¹⁵ So what has become of the joy you felt? For I bear you witness that had it been possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

Sha’ul refers to his “thorn in his side” in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy because I tell you the truth? ¹⁷ True, these teachers are zealous for you, but their motives are not good. They want to separate you from us so that you will become zealous for them. ¹⁸ To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not, ¹⁹ my dear children, I am suffering the pains of giving birth to you all over again—and this will go on until the Messiah takes shape in you. ²⁰ I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone of voice. I don’t know what to do with you. ^[1]

Sha’ul was saddened that the Galatians now viewed him as an enemy simply because he told them what they needed to hear (the truth), not what they wanted to hear. Zeal can be deluded, as it was with the false teachers in Galatia. The only way these teachers could maintain the zeal of the Galatian churches was to isolate them from the other Gentile churches who were not trying to be justified by the “works of the law.”

Sha’ul wished the Galatians could be “born again” a second time, which was impossible (Hebrews 6:4–6). Emotionally, he felt like a woman in labor giving birth to the same baby for the second time in trying to bring the Galatians back to justification by faith, thus ditching the misguided emphasis on the works of the law. Sha’ul did not enjoy being stern with those he cared about, but he didn’t know what else to do about their situation since he could not be with them physically.

In our next post, we will continue to explore Sha’ul’s Doctrine of Justification, starting in chapter 4:21.

Click here for the PDF version.

^[1] Galatians 4:8–20.