Laura wrote: > The book of Galatians most certainly is written > because of two things. Converts of Paul's who > were defecting and Judaistic teachers who were > adulterating Paul's gospel. That is NT 101!!! > Paul had a couple of reasons for writing it. One > was to defend his teachings and to teach the doctrine > of justification by faith apart from the Law and the > other was the principle of Christians living in freedom > Christ. I learned that a LONG time ago. What is > your problem???
I agree with what you say here about Galatians, but I do not agree with Glenn that the Judaizers who were adulterating Paul's gospel were kicked out of the church. What verse in Galatians says that? Certainly not Galatians 5:4. It is important to rightly divide the Word of God. Paul taught GENTILES not to become Torah observant, but he did NOT teach JEWS to forsake their Torah observance, something which their culture had trained them in since they were very young. There were false rumors that Paul taught Jews to forsake the law of Moses. These were FALSE rumors, as Paul made very clear in Acts 21:17-26. Paul himself was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6), and as such, he was Torah observant. Nevertheless, he believed it was wrong to teach Gentiles to become Torah observant. Furthermore, he believed that GENTILES who felt compelled to become circumcised and become JEWS were actually departing from the grace of Jesus Christ because instead of trusting Jesus, they were trusting their compliance with the law of Moses to justify themselves before God. It is very obvious that Paul was somewhat flexible in this, because he himself circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3). This was exactly at the time when they were going through the many cities, delivering the decree of the Jerusalem church saying that Gentiles did not have to be circumcised or become Sabbath observers, etc. In other words, at the very time when Paul was on a missionary trip to teach Gentiles not to listen to Judaizers, that is when he circumcised Timothy. Note that Timothy's mother was a Jew, which meant that Timothy was a Jew, but he was not raised in Jewry because his father was a Greek. Paul didn't tell Timothy, "oh, Timothy, if you get circumcised, you have fallen from grace." No, not only did Paul teach Timothy that he was free to be circumcised, he circumcised Timothy himself. Paul was a Pharisee who acted as a mohel in this situation. The truth is that if Paul came into any of your churches today, you would not recognize him as a Christian. You would think to yourself, "who is this Sabbath keeping Jew who preaches Jesus Christ"? His habits, his prayers, his songs, his culture, would all be distinctly Jewish and foreign to you. Peace be with you. David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida USA ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
