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| English: Map of the Letters of Galatia (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
In
the first entry in the Bible Junkies Online Commentary on Galatians, I
discussed introductory matters concerning the founding of the churches to the
Galatians, the situation when Paul wrote to them, when the letter might have
been written and the type of letters which Paul wrote, based on the common
Greco-Roman letters of his day. In
the second post, I considered the basic content and breakdown of a Pauline
letter. I noted the major sections of the formal letter structure and, in the
context of each section, outlined the theological and ethical (as well as
other) concerns of Paul, including some Greek words which will be examined more
fully as we continue with the commentary. In
the third entry, I looked at the salutation, which is long for Paul’s
corpus (only Romans 1:1-7 is longer) and briefly commented on the lack of a
Thanksgiving, the only letter of Paul’s which does not have one. The
fourth entry discussed the opening of the body of the letter, a significant
part of the letter especially in light of the absence of a Thanksgiving. In
the fifth entry, I examined the beginning of the opening of the body of the
letter, in which Paul describes his background in Judaism and I placed this in
the context of Judaism in the Hellenistic period. In the
sixth post in the online commentary, I continued to look at Paul’s
biographical sketch of his life, this concerning his earliest life as a
Christian. In
the seventh post, I examined what Paul says about his subsequent visit to
Jerusalem to see the apostles and the Church in Jerusalem.
In the eighth entry, Paul confronts Cephas about his hypocrisy in Antioch.
The
ninth blog post started to examine the theological argument in one of
Paul’s most important and complex theological letters. In the tenth entry,
found below, Paul makes an emotional appeal to the Galatians based on their
past religious experiences and their relationship with Paul.
4. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
d) Body of the Letter (1:13-6:10):
iv) Theological Teaching (2:15-5:12): How did
you receive the Spirit? (3:1-5).
1
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that
Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! 2 The only thing I want to
learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the
law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Having started with
the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? 4 Did you experience so much for
nothing?—if it really was for nothing. 5 Well then, does God supply
you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the
law, or by your believing what you heard? (NRSV)
Paul turns from the historical and the theological to the personal and
the experiential. Though theology is at
the heart of Paul’s indictment of the Galatian Christians, it is grounded in
their religious lives. This is a significant point, to my mind, that theology
grows out of the spiritual experience of the earliest Christians, in a way that
is not always valued today. The turn away from faith that Paul perceives is a
turn away from the actual reception of the good news, which Paul implies was
charismatic, though he does not explain the manner in which they “receive{d}
the Spirit” other than to combine the reception of the Spirit with the working
of “miracles among you” (Galatians 3:4). Unless, of course, Galatians 3:1 (“It
was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!”)
represents some miraculous experience of Jesus among the Galatians. Most
scholars attribute this phrase to a description of Paul’s intense preaching,
which makes sense, but could Paul not also be describing some sort of visionary
experience within the community? It cannot be proven, but the focus on miracles
and spiritual experiences within this passage challenges us to think beyond merely
effective rhetorical teaching.
I would like to reflect on this for a short time because it has often
puzzled me how Paul would come into a city in the Roman Empire, each city with
a supermarket of gods and goddesses and make any headway in evangelizing the
local inhabitants. Certainly, Paul might get a foothold in by going to
synagogues, or speaking with God fearers, Gentiles who might have had some or
significant knowledge of Judaism, the Law and the Scriptures, but this would
only be a start. In addition, it seems likely from what we know of Paul’s stay
in Corinth and elsewhere, such as Ephesus, that Paul would have set up shop and
worked in the agora, which would have
facilitated encounters with a cross-section of people, but this does not
explain why people would turn to Jesus Christ, at least not exclusively. As
significant as Paul’s rhetorical skills are, even though he denies this in 1
Corinthians 2:4, there must have been more to his presentation than convincing
speech.
Indeed, he makes a similar claim to the Corinthians as he does to the
Galatians. Immediately after the opening clause in 1 Corinthians 2:4 that “my
speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,” Paul
declares that he came to them “with a demonstration of the Spirit
and of power.” Since Paul speaks to a Church at odds with him in Corinth and this
is even more significantly the case here in Galatia, Paul’s reporting on
Spirit-filled and miraculous deeds must refer to previous acts of the Spirit
which those in Galatia would acknowledge and accept as truthful reporting. We
cannot identify these deeds with more precision, whether they would include speaking
in tongues, prophecy or other “Spirit-filled” activities, but these experiences
are essential for Paul’s theological argument and, again, must represent the
reality of the spiritual experiences of the Galatians when Paul first came to
them. Modern scholarship too often minimizes the claims of spiritual
wonderworking at the heart of Paul’s Gospel, which might explain both its
initial attraction and subsequent attachment to the Church, even though such
claims are difficult to define.
It is because of these experiences and the relationships Paul has with
the Galatians that he labels them “foolish Galatians,” using the word anoêtos, which could be translated as
“foolish” or “ignorant.” Paul also wonders, “Who has bewitched you?” The verb baskainô could be translated as
“bewitch” or “put under a spell,” and though Paul probably does not believe
such tactics have literally been used on the Galatians, it does indicate the
sway or power he believes the interlopers in the community have utilized in
turning them away from the Gospel he preached.
The remainder of this section reflects back on their conversion
experiences, and the religious events which accompanied them, and draws on the
theological arguments made in the second half of Galatians 2. It does so by
asking a series of questions, some of which we have already examined. The questions
are as follows:
1.
Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what
you heard? (Galatians 3:2)
2.
Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the
flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
3.
Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.
(Galatians 3:4)
4.
Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by
your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? (Galatians
3:5)
Notice the rhetorical force of this type of questioning, which challenges
not Paul’s teaching or proclamation, but their
own experience. And yet, in both questions 1 and 4, which frame the whole
section with identical contrasts, the theological teaching of Paul distinguishing
between “works of the Law” and “believing what you heard” is central. It is
important to keep in mind here as well that “believing what you heard”
translates the noun pistis, which is
generally translated as “faith.” The phrase in both verses is ex akoês pisteôs, which is literally
“out of the hearing of faith.” “Believing what you heard” is a fine
translation, except that it obscures the commonality of pistis, which is earlier in the letter translated as “faith.”
Paul’s verbal consistency is obscured by the English translation, which is
equating “faith” with “belief.” I would simply change it to “having faith in
what you heard.”
The significance of the argument, of course, is not obscured, which is
that the experience of the Spirit came not through “works of the Law” but
through “having faith in what you heard.” In question 2, Paul equates the
“works of the Law” with “the flesh” (sarx),
since the Spirit (and justification) has come through faith. This indicates
that “the flesh” and “the Spirit” are naturally opposed.[1]
Question 3 is a typical “parental” question: are you going to throw away
everything you have already gained? If everyone is following the works of the
Law does that mean you have to do so? How did you gain the Spirit?
This sort of parental appeal has a lot of emotional pull, as anyone with
parents knows, for it plays on past religious experiences and past
relationships. These sorts of relationships, with so much history, are not easy
to cast aside or ignore, which Paul knows, and he plays on the emotions of the
Galatians. Yet, emotion will alone not win the Galatians back to Paul, since
those who have entered the community have their own appeals and their own
relationships with the Galatians. Paul will have to return to theology if he
wants to restore the relationship among the Galatians. He will have to convince
them.
Next entry, Abraham and faith
John W. Martens
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This entry is cross-posted at
America Magazine The Good Word
[1]
There will be much more on the sarx and
pneuma (Spirit) contrast in this
letter, which we will discuss later in the commentary.
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