Aeliana
Well-known member
Book of Galatians was the first book of the Bible that I actually did a deep study on. I've always referred to it since then as the Grace Gospel. To me the ultimate question the letter seeks to answer is, how should we live in light of the good news that Jesus Christ has died and been raised? I think it's important to be able to live out the gospel if we want to be effective in sharing the gospel.
To me this is what Paul wants to unpack in this letter, and this is what I'm seeking to unpack in this post: gospel-rooted living.
What I admire about Paul is he doesn’t hesitate to expound the truth of the gospel—what the gospel is and what the gospel isn’t. But his purpose goes beyond mere exposition; his goal is to ensure that the Galatians actually live the truth of the gospel; or, to use a phrase from today’s passage, Paul wants to call them back to conduct that is “in step with the truth of the gospel”.
"But as soon as I saw that they were not straightforward and were not living up to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before everybody present, If you, though born a Jew, can live [as you have been living] like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how do you dare now to urge and practically force the Gentiles to [comply with the ritual of Judaism and] live like Jews"? Ga 2:14
In this passage Paul throws the spotlight on what it means to stay “in step with the truth of the gospel.” But he does so not by telling us two or three ways in which we stay in step with the truth of the gospel. (He will get to that) Instead in this passage we see the converse: how one falls out of step with the truth of the gospel.
But know this also, there is a great threat to staying “in step with the truth of the gospel”: hypocrisy. Our faithfulness to the truth of the gospel is constantly under threat from hypocrisy. Most often when we fail to live out the truth of the gospel, we’ve veered off into hypocrisy. So, in order to stay faithful to the gospel, you and I must be vigilant in our fight against hypocrisy’s menacing presence.
But what is hypocrisy? It’s someone who fails to practice what he or she preaches. But in that case I’m a chronic hypocrite because I never live up to my own ideals, and I suspect you don’t either. The word hypocrite ultimately came into English from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor” or “a stage player.” Thus the word came to suggest “the concealing of one’s true character, thoughts, or feelings under a guise implying something quite different.” When you act hypocritically, you mask your true convictions and play a part that’s not really yours.
We all understand, of course, that we can affirm something to be true and yet fail to live up to it. This is what it means to deal with our own sin and struggles. But we must understand as well that we can affirm something to be true and yet intentionally live in a way that covers that up and makes it look like we don’t believe it to be true. This is the kind of playacting the Bible calls hypocrisy. It’s a kind of treachery, like a husband who removes his wedding ring so he can play the part of a single man. It’s an act of dishonesty and disloyalty.
In what situations are we tempted to playact, to cover up what we believe by how we live? In what situations do we find that we’re putting on a mask that conceals our true convictions about the gospel or who Jesus is?
Let me end for now with this:
In Romans 1, Paul addresses the Gentile believers at Rome and begins by explaining his mission, which was to preach the gospel to everyone. He concludes his explanation by saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:16–17; cf. Habakkuk 2:4).
To me this is what Paul wants to unpack in this letter, and this is what I'm seeking to unpack in this post: gospel-rooted living.
What I admire about Paul is he doesn’t hesitate to expound the truth of the gospel—what the gospel is and what the gospel isn’t. But his purpose goes beyond mere exposition; his goal is to ensure that the Galatians actually live the truth of the gospel; or, to use a phrase from today’s passage, Paul wants to call them back to conduct that is “in step with the truth of the gospel”.
"But as soon as I saw that they were not straightforward and were not living up to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas (Peter) before everybody present, If you, though born a Jew, can live [as you have been living] like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how do you dare now to urge and practically force the Gentiles to [comply with the ritual of Judaism and] live like Jews"? Ga 2:14
In this passage Paul throws the spotlight on what it means to stay “in step with the truth of the gospel.” But he does so not by telling us two or three ways in which we stay in step with the truth of the gospel. (He will get to that) Instead in this passage we see the converse: how one falls out of step with the truth of the gospel.
But know this also, there is a great threat to staying “in step with the truth of the gospel”: hypocrisy. Our faithfulness to the truth of the gospel is constantly under threat from hypocrisy. Most often when we fail to live out the truth of the gospel, we’ve veered off into hypocrisy. So, in order to stay faithful to the gospel, you and I must be vigilant in our fight against hypocrisy’s menacing presence.
But what is hypocrisy? It’s someone who fails to practice what he or she preaches. But in that case I’m a chronic hypocrite because I never live up to my own ideals, and I suspect you don’t either. The word hypocrite ultimately came into English from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor” or “a stage player.” Thus the word came to suggest “the concealing of one’s true character, thoughts, or feelings under a guise implying something quite different.” When you act hypocritically, you mask your true convictions and play a part that’s not really yours.
We all understand, of course, that we can affirm something to be true and yet fail to live up to it. This is what it means to deal with our own sin and struggles. But we must understand as well that we can affirm something to be true and yet intentionally live in a way that covers that up and makes it look like we don’t believe it to be true. This is the kind of playacting the Bible calls hypocrisy. It’s a kind of treachery, like a husband who removes his wedding ring so he can play the part of a single man. It’s an act of dishonesty and disloyalty.
In what situations are we tempted to playact, to cover up what we believe by how we live? In what situations do we find that we’re putting on a mask that conceals our true convictions about the gospel or who Jesus is?
Let me end for now with this:
In Romans 1, Paul addresses the Gentile believers at Rome and begins by explaining his mission, which was to preach the gospel to everyone. He concludes his explanation by saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:16–17; cf. Habakkuk 2:4).
