Walking by the Spirit in the Middle of Lasers and Space Bombs
Added 2025-05-26 17:48:25 +0000 UTCThat title will make more sense on Wednesday, but in the mean time we're digging deeper into Paul's point about life by the Spirit. All this stuff Paul's saying is counterintuitive because we're used to doing things when we want to get things, but Paul's saying that it's God who makes it possible to have right standing with Him and God who makes it possible to obey Him and live a life that honors Him. That's not how we're used to functioning so this is a big, important ideas that deserves full consideration.
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Comments
Hey folks. On the theme of the Samurai Jedi from Rouge One, he noticed Jin among all the noise in the square. I propose he sensed that she had both values and a large goal. She was living for the End by the Means. People who live only for the End, often sacrifice values and anyone or thing that gets in their way. People that live only by Means often do not make an impact (not necessarily bad or a waste). The samurai calls out Jin possibly to become part of her End by his means. Also possible he was already heading to the same End, was in a waiting state, recognized another with the same End and noble Means, and joined in.
Jim Adams
2025-06-03 13:37:16 +0000 UTCGAL201 -- I was tickled to hear someone else affirm my view that 5:13 is a pivot point, or at least a major transition. Now if Matt would adopt some New Perspective to move beyond the idea that Paul's concern is "human effort", I'd finally get past [crazy pills meme] and *really* feel vindicated! :D One thing I'd like to hear addressed in the current Spirit section is something from back in the beginning of chapter 3. There he talks about the Galatians as having received the Spirit, and it sounds like it's something that could be shown by some evidence -- but what is that evidence exactly? Pentecostals & charismatics nowadays would say it's speaking in tongues, but the text here just doesn't explain it. (And I don't think modern ecstatic utterances are what Paul means by tongues elsewhere anyhow.) I could see it as transformed lives maybe. But again, he doesn't say, and I want to know! :) So, why is the "human effort" thing crazy-making for me? Because as I read it, that's not what Paul's saying here in Galatians specifically. It's an idea brought in from elsewhere. One might could argue that it's in Ephesians based on the different wording there, but in *this* letter Paul is constantly talking about works *of the Law*, not just [good] works in general. And the works *of the Law* that matter here are those which set the Jews apart as a distinct ethne, viz. circumcision, kosher, etc. The judaizers that Paul is combating in this letter taught that these things were essential. But Paul is saying that the Law of Moses, of which these are defining parts, is not in fact the essential thing that the covenant with God and the promise of the kingdom is based on. Instead, the covenant and promise to Abraham is, which predates the Law by centuries. And *that's* the basis by which gentiles like the Galatians (and us) are included, having the same faith[fulness] as Abraham. And the promise is fulfilled in Christ. Having died and risen again, he is free from the Law, and we through union with him (in baptism, dying and rising again with him) become his brothers and fellow heirs in the kingdom of heaven. To go back under the Law as the judaizers wanted is to forsake all that, to go back from being an adult heir to a child under tutelage as though Christ's work accomplished nothing. So that's why Paul is talking about the "works of the Law" here, and why just reading it as "human effort" is missing his point, even making a wholly other point instead. IMO.
Stephen Parsons
2025-06-02 14:44:47 +0000 UTC
