Interplanner
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The Messiah himself would arrive full of the Spirit of God: Is 11:1-3. The Spirit of God was also to come as a gift to those following Messiah, and gaining his new covenant, 59:20-21. He comes to those who repent of their sins, no matter what race. This is the 'pouring out of the Spirit' which Peter marked on the day of Pentecost, using Joel 2. The purpose of this pouring out was to accelerate the spread of the message of Messiah, the Gospel. The people from other countries heard the event of Christ and his Davidic enthronement, and his exaltation as Lord and Christ in their own language, so they could better express it upon their return.
The arrival and purpose of this was confounding to most of Judaism. They were expecting a resolution to the fact of being a lowly occupied vassal state. They were pretty much expecting a return to the Davidic glory days, Jn 12:34. They may not have grasped the 70 weeks vision of Daniel, or like some parts of Judaism, did not put the prophets on the same level as Moses, still true today.
But the way this new mission and 'basilieu' of Christ was to establish itself and spread was also puzzling, because it was by the Spirit. 'Not by might or by power, but by my Spirit.' It was also only for those who repented of sins, including the sin of using the old covenant so externally and powerlessly. Its presence even baffled the 'secular' authorities of the country, claiming to be over them, though not undermining them by any direct hostile action like the zealots of Judaism.
So over in Galatians, even though outside Israel, but in contact with Jews and Judaizers, we find that Paul's opposition was trying to make the Spirit of God do many other things for other reasons. Not only were their characters like Simon the Magician who thought it was a new form of his craft, but the Judaizers were insisting that the believers be circumcised traditionally so that the Spirit would work, 3:2, 3, 5. They thought that was the cause of this 'effect.'
The most revealing thing about what was going on in Galatia is perhaps 4:17. The opposition is expanding Judaism, not the mission of Christ!
It was a gift. It was not a formula. The gift of the Spirit was for the expansion of the mission of the Gospel. It did not exist to bring people to Judaism, which was how Paul's opposition read such passages from the OT about the coming of the Spirit. No, it was in Christ as the Seed of Abraham that a person became a Christian and through which the Spirit worked. This is why the cause and effect of Gal 3:14 exists. The blessing given to Abraham was justification and it comes to Gentiles (to anyone actually) by faith in Christ. And why? So that those people in turn can receive the Spirit, so that the mission grows even larger.
This was neither how nor why things were supposed to work, according to Judaism and its sacred surgeons. To them Paul was insane, a numbskull, a bastard. They had ceremonially 'buried' him. To them, the racial line was as important as at their beginning, and the rite was as necessary as ever. None of this seed of Abraham by faith!
There is no other conduit for the Spirit of God than the Gospel of God in Christ. It works through the declaration of the Gospel, whether there are outward signs or not. Acts 11:20 is when Gentile believers started speaking on their own, and it was blessed by the Lord and then later 'validated' by the apostles, and took on a force of its own, so that Antioch was as important as Jerusalem.
Finally, the work of the Spirit of God in communication beyond one's own language was a Messianic sign to Israel. No matter what was going on in Corinth, Paul took them back to what Isaiah 28 and Deut 28 said would take place: there would be people among Israel who would one day speak miraculously to other nations in their unknown languages about Messiah. Along with the resurrection, miracles, healings this was a conclusive indicator to Israel of the 'basileu' of Messiah, so that Israel would repent and work in this mission.
The arrival and purpose of this was confounding to most of Judaism. They were expecting a resolution to the fact of being a lowly occupied vassal state. They were pretty much expecting a return to the Davidic glory days, Jn 12:34. They may not have grasped the 70 weeks vision of Daniel, or like some parts of Judaism, did not put the prophets on the same level as Moses, still true today.
But the way this new mission and 'basilieu' of Christ was to establish itself and spread was also puzzling, because it was by the Spirit. 'Not by might or by power, but by my Spirit.' It was also only for those who repented of sins, including the sin of using the old covenant so externally and powerlessly. Its presence even baffled the 'secular' authorities of the country, claiming to be over them, though not undermining them by any direct hostile action like the zealots of Judaism.
So over in Galatians, even though outside Israel, but in contact with Jews and Judaizers, we find that Paul's opposition was trying to make the Spirit of God do many other things for other reasons. Not only were their characters like Simon the Magician who thought it was a new form of his craft, but the Judaizers were insisting that the believers be circumcised traditionally so that the Spirit would work, 3:2, 3, 5. They thought that was the cause of this 'effect.'
The most revealing thing about what was going on in Galatia is perhaps 4:17. The opposition is expanding Judaism, not the mission of Christ!
It was a gift. It was not a formula. The gift of the Spirit was for the expansion of the mission of the Gospel. It did not exist to bring people to Judaism, which was how Paul's opposition read such passages from the OT about the coming of the Spirit. No, it was in Christ as the Seed of Abraham that a person became a Christian and through which the Spirit worked. This is why the cause and effect of Gal 3:14 exists. The blessing given to Abraham was justification and it comes to Gentiles (to anyone actually) by faith in Christ. And why? So that those people in turn can receive the Spirit, so that the mission grows even larger.
This was neither how nor why things were supposed to work, according to Judaism and its sacred surgeons. To them Paul was insane, a numbskull, a bastard. They had ceremonially 'buried' him. To them, the racial line was as important as at their beginning, and the rite was as necessary as ever. None of this seed of Abraham by faith!
There is no other conduit for the Spirit of God than the Gospel of God in Christ. It works through the declaration of the Gospel, whether there are outward signs or not. Acts 11:20 is when Gentile believers started speaking on their own, and it was blessed by the Lord and then later 'validated' by the apostles, and took on a force of its own, so that Antioch was as important as Jerusalem.
Finally, the work of the Spirit of God in communication beyond one's own language was a Messianic sign to Israel. No matter what was going on in Corinth, Paul took them back to what Isaiah 28 and Deut 28 said would take place: there would be people among Israel who would one day speak miraculously to other nations in their unknown languages about Messiah. Along with the resurrection, miracles, healings this was a conclusive indicator to Israel of the 'basileu' of Messiah, so that Israel would repent and work in this mission.
