Originally posted by Hilston:
His audience understood grace. His audience understood salvation as a gift and not a work. So what then could he have been talking about? Certainly not what you're talking about. Working for their salvation?
Originally posted by Sozo
That is exactly what Paul was opposing in Galatians.
Not at all. There is no evidence that the churches in Galatia (Ga 1:2) were all of a sudden confused about being saved via grace, or that they were suddenly trying to earn their salvation by works. We really have to give more credit to those who learned directly from Paul. They understood grace and righteousness of Christ in their behalf. They knew that nothing they did could earn them heaven or salvation. It wasn't a lack of understanding that enticed them into the "weak and beggarly elements," or bewitched them into listening to the Judaizers, but rather their sin nature. As humans with a sin nature, we are easily and readily enticed or bewitched by external attractions and distractions, and as believers, we are especially struggle with those things that seem to honor God in an outward way. Paul reminds them that such behavior is characteristic of Israel's gospel, and not the Body gospel.
Originally posted by Sozo
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel.
How is celebrating Christmas a "different" gospel?
It isn't, but the principle Paul enforced in Galatians, and expanded upon in Colossians, applies
for the very same reasons. Paul decried ceremonial observances for the churches of Galatia, in their case, the observances of Jewish festal rites and holidays, because the Body of Christ is seated in the heavens, above religious earthly ceremony of any kind. Paul was not prohibiting this just to be a big meanie, but rather because religious ceremonies and holidays
of any kind amount to angel worship, which dishonors the blessings of Christ, who secured His Body to be co-seated with Him above the angelic realm.
Christ-Mass is a religious observance. There's no way around it. The very name of the holiday is an indictment against those who celebrate it. Everywhere you look--the church marquis, public buildings, every street corner, the radio stations, the shopping malls, people's cars-- where is there NOT religious symbolism, ceremony and ritual surrounding this holiday? Add to that the fact that Christendumb heightens the religiosity by such campaigns as "Keep Christ in CHRISTmas," and "Wise men still seek Him", etc., and you have a full-on violation and dishonoring of Paul's gospel and the dispensationally exclusive blessings Christ has secured for the Body.
Originally posted by Sozo
Do you seriously believe that anyone is trying to be made righteous through a celebration with family and friends sharing gifts?
I don't. Nor do I think the Galatians or Colossians were trying to be made righteous through observing Jewish or pagan holidays. That's the point. One does not need to believe they are earning salvation by works to dishonor and disrespect the dispensational truths secured and taught by the risen Christ through Paul's gospel regarding religious ceremony and holidays.
Originally posted by Sozo
But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
It is noteworthy that you quoted this verse, because elsewhere Paul endorses circumcision for a proselyte. In Acts 16, Paul actually circumcises Timothy. So why the difference? The difference was this: During Paul's ministry, three dispensations were in tension. The Jewish gospel, the Gentile gospel, and the Body gospel (which is neither Jew nor Gentile). On Jewish turf (in synagogues, in Jerusalem), Paul honored Israel's gospel. He kept Passover; he respected food laws and didn't eat meat sacrificed to idols. But on Body turf (such as Antioch), he shunned those things and prohibited them, and even rebuked a co-laborer in public for violating his turf (Peter, in Gal 2). That is why Romans 14 and 1Corinthians 8 no longer apply. There is no longer a Jewish nation recognized by God. There are no surviving Kingdom saints to honor and respect. Hence, there is no angelic ministry today. That is what makes holidays all the more egregious. It invokes the involvement of a realm of the created order that is currently in abeyance. So if the
elect angels are not ministering over religious ceremonies and holidays, which angels are?
Originally posted by Sozo
Those who are disturbing the Galatians, are trying to bring them back under the Law, by spying on them to see if they are circumcised or not, because they believed that Timothy needed to keep the Law to be righteous.
If that were the case, Paul would not have affirmed such error by circumcizing Timothy, which he did in Acts 16:1-3. The Judaizers mistakenly assumed that converted Gentiles, as it was (partly) in the previous dispensation, needed to become proselytes of Israel in order to have a right standing with God. For the Kingdom gospels, Acts 15 settles this issue. In Romans 10, Paul further explains why that is no longer the case. The Judaizers argue, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Those words are not Paul's argument, but that of the self-righteous Jews. The Jews make this argument to assert their own necessity to Gentile salvation. They even quote the Hebrew scriptures to make their claim, as Paul recognizes in his mock dialogue. But notice the stark contrast that Paul gives to their claim:
"But I say, Have they not heard?" ["They," referring to the Gentiles to whom the Jews felt their preaching was so crucial]
Paul answers his own question by quoting Israel's scriptures:
"Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
Notice that Paul refers to Ps 19, which the Jew would immediately recognize. He says that "the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard."
The Jews whom Paul was addressing would know immediately what Paul was referring to, that is the Gentile gospel was declared in the constellations long before Israel's ministry to the nations. The Gentiles didn't need Israel way back then, so what makes them think they are so crucial to Gentile salvation now that the Body gospel has been revealed?
Originally posted by Sozo
Do you believe that everyone who is circumcised has fallen from grace?
No. If someone were to seek justification via circumcision, he would certainly have been regarded as "fallen from grace," i.e. made grace of none effect (same word is used in Ro 9:6). But Paul is not accusing any of the
believers of doing this. He is making a point using the subjunctive verb: If you
were to seek justification by circumcision, Christ would profit you nothing (Gal 5:2). He then addesses the reprobates (not believers), whoever they are among them, who have indeed done this, making a clear distinction between "whosoever of you are justified by the law [of circumcision]" and "we ... [who] wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Note that the former are not Jews, who rightly identified their justification via circumcision.
Originally posted by Sozo
For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
I don't believe that anyone here is compelling anyone to celebrate Christmas to be right with God.
I agree. Nor was Peter being accused by Paul of compelling anyone to celebrate Jewish food rituals to be right with God. Nor am I here accusing anyone of compelling people to celebrate ChristMass to be right with God. Seeking salvation by works is not the issue here or in Galatians. Paul was warning the Galatians that they were being bewitched by the Judaizers. They were being enticed into observing Jewish holidays and rituals, not for salvation, but as added expressions of worship and righteousness. But Paul informs them that keeping Jewish (or any kind of) holidays was not the way to move on to perfection (Gal 3:1-3). And that by doing so, they deny the dispensational truths that given to Paul by the risen Christ.
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