ガラテヤの信徒への手紙5:7-12 Galatians 5:7-12,
兄弟たち、このわたしが、今なお割礼を宣べ伝えているとするならば、今なお迫害を受けているのは、なぜですか。そのようなことを宣べ伝えれば、十字架のつまずきもなくなっていたことでしょう。 （ガラテヤ5:11）
使徒言行録の16章1節から3節には、パウロが若い同労者であるテモテに割礼を授けたことが記されています。（中略）テモテがユダヤ人の子でありながら割礼を受けていなかったことは、一般のユダヤ人にとっては主と同胞に対する裏切りとも思えることで、大いにつまずきとなることでした。テモテが伝道者として立つならば、ユダヤ人の同胞にもキリストの福音を宣べ伝えねばなりません。ですから、テモテの側に同胞のユダヤ人をつまずかせるような要素があるならば、最初にそれをなくしておかねばなりませんでした。そこで、パウロは、テモテにユダヤ人としての割礼を受けさせたのでした。注意すべき事は、パウロが救いの条件としてテモテに割礼を強制したのではない、ということです。
ところが、ユダヤ教的な伝道者たちは、パウロがテモテに割礼を授けたことを、「実はパウロも『割礼の儀式を受けなければ完全な救いは得られない』と考えているのだ！」とゆがめて解釈して、ガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちに伝えていたのではないかと推測できるのです。ですから、パウロは自分がそのような考えでないことを強調するために、11節の前半で「兄弟たち、このわたしが、今なお割礼を宣べ伝えているとするならば、今なお迫害を受けているのは、なぜですか」と問いかけているのでしょう。つまり、「もし私が割礼の儀式を受けなければ完全な救いは得られないと宣べ伝えているとすれば、伝道をした町々でユダヤ人たちから迫害を受けるはずがないでしょう！」ということです。使徒言行録によれば、パウロは行く先々でユダヤ人たちによる迫害を受けていました。そのような迫害は、ガラテヤ地方の都市であるピシディア州のアンティオキアやイコニオンやリストラでもあったのでした。
11節の後半でパウロは「そのようなことを宣べ伝えれば、十字架のつまずきもなくなっていたことでしょう」と記しています。「そのようなこと」とは、言うまでもなく「割礼の儀式を受けなければ完全な救いは得られない」ということです。それでは、「十字架のつまずき」とは、一体何でしょうか？これは、一つには、十字架につけられた者は神に呪われた者だと考えて、キリストは神に呪われた者だということでしょう。しかし、それだけではなく、キリストの十字架を信じれば、旧約聖書の律法を守る行いがなくても救われるという教えもまた「十字架のつまずき」と言われているのでしょう。
（5月26日の説教より）
The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ are central to Christian teachings. Those who believe in the cross and resurrection of Christ can be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. However, understanding that one can be forgiven of sins by believing in the cross of Christ is a difficult thing to understand, even though it seems simple. First of all, it is difficult to understand that they have sins. Especially for non-Christians, it can be difficult to understand why they should be told that they have sins, when they have not been caught doing something against the law of the world. Secondly, it is difficult for them to understand that the cross of Christ was meant to atone for human sins. They may not understand why it is relevant to them that Christ died on the cross in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. Furthermore, it is difficult for them to understand that they are saved by believing in the cross of Christ, not by keeping the laws. Many people have the stereotype that religion teaches salvation by keeping various laws. However, the Bible teaches that we are saved by believing, not by keeping the laws. In particular, the letter to the Galatians strongly teaches that it is not by keeping the law but by believing in the cross of Christ.
Last week was the Pentecost service commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. Today I want to return to the exposition of Galatians, which we continued before the Easter service. As I have been elucidating different parts of the Bible in worship for about two months, some of you may have lost track of what the background to Galatians was all about. So I would like to briefly look back and explain the background to this letter.
Paul began his first missionary journey in 47 AD, when he and Barnabas preached the gospel of Christ throughout the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and the area which is now Turkey. This is described in the Acts of the Apostles from chapter 13 verse 4 to the end of chapter 14. In particular, the evangelisation of various parts of Turkey is described in detail, with the establishment of churches in Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium and Lystra. Acts 14:23 shows that elders were appointed in these congregations and that churches were formed as communities of faith. However, after Paul and Barnabas left, other evangelists entered these churches. These evangelists taught the congregations differently from Paul. They taught that Christians must not only believe in Christ, but also keep the Old Testament law. The evangelists particularly emphasised the need to undergo the ritual of circumcision, which is commanded in the Old Testament law.
Why did those who insisted that Gentile Christians must undergo the ritual of circumcision do so? It was probably out of a zeal to keep the Old Testament law as God’s people, above all. And, in addition, they may have intended to mitigate persecution from the Jewish people by insisting that Gentile Christians must undergo the ritual of circumcision. In New Testament times, the Jewish people severely persecuted Christians. This is evident from the fact that Paul also severely persecuted Christians before he himself became a Christian, and that when he preached Christ in various towns, he was severely persecuted by the Jewish people. If Christians had undergone the same ritual of circumcision as the Jewish people, the persecution by the Jewish people could have been eased. And that would have been desirable for Jewish Christians living among Jewish people. So the evangelists who came to the Galatian churches after Paul, preached Jewish teachings such as circumcision.
And the arguments of such Jewish evangelists had a rather strong influence on the believers of the Galatian churches. In 1:6 of this letter, Paul writes: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” “A different gospel” is the teaching that “not only must one believe in Christ, but one must also undergo the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law to attain full salvation.” Paul preached the gospel that a person can be saved by believing in Christ. Through that evangelisation of Paul, God invited the believers of the Galatian churches to receive the grace of Christ. And they certainly believed the gospel preached by Paul at one time. However, the Galatian believers were surprisingly quick to turn away from the true gospel and switch to “a different gospel.”
Also, in chapter 3:1, Paul says: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” Paul must have known that it was the Jewish evangelists who came after him who misled the Galatian believers. But Paul dares to ask, as if he did not know, “Who has bewitched you?” and tries to bring them back to his true teaching. Paul’s teaching is that human beings are saved by believing in the cross of Christ. The words, “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified,” could mean that Paul so vividly proclaimed the salvation of the cross of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit that people were clearly shown Christ crucified for their salvation by Paul’s preaching. Thus, Paul was clearly stating that a person can be saved by believing in the cross of Christ, and that it is not necessary to undergo the ritual of circumcision.
In 5:6, which precedes today’s passage, Paul writes: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” Paul tells that “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything,” because the Jewish evangelists who came after Paul taught that “not only must one believe in Christ, but one must also undergo the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law to attain full salvation.” Paul reiterates here that circumcision does not matter, lest the believers of the Galatian churches be misled by that teaching. He emphasises that what is important is “only faith working through love.”
The phrase “faith working through love” is very nuanced. One biblical scholar translates it as “faith that continue to invest itself in loving action.” This is a very interesting translation that expresses a subtle nuance. True faith is not resting on the fact that one is saved by faith, but investing oneself, saved by faith, in loving action, putting it into loving action.
Now, in verse 7 of today’s passage, Paul again asks the believers of the Galatian churches. “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” By “running well,” Paul means that Galatian believers were living a faithful life according to the gospel preached by Paul. As I mentioned earlier, Paul must have known that it was the Jewish evangelists who preached false doctrines to the Galatian believers. However, as in 3:1, he tries to turn the believers away from the false teaching by asking, “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”
In the following verses 8 and 9, Paul warns: “This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” “He who calls you” is, of course, God. This means that the teachings of the Jewish evangelists, however plausible they may sound, do not come from God. And the metaphor of “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” may mean that once one accepts the false teaching because it sounds plausible, the whole life of faith is ruined. Or it could mean that false teaching, even if only accepted by a few, will eventually ruin the whole church.
Paul not only questions and warns, but also encourages the believers. In the first half of verse 10 he says: “I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view.” The important thing is that he trusts the believers “in the Lord.” In other words, Paul trusts that the Galatian believers, being united to Christ by faith, though once they have been deceived, they will be led by the Lord to turn to the gospel of the cross proclaimed by Paul. The second half of verse 10 also states that “the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.” This means that Jewish evangelists who misled the Galatian believers will be judged by God.
The words of verse 11 that follow must be listened to with care.
But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
Why does Paul say things like “if I still preach circumcision”? Since Paul was consistently preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, shouldn’t he need to say “if I still preach circumcision”? Behind this issue, the Jewish evangelists who preached the teaching that “not only must one believe in Christ, but one must also undergo the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law to attain full salvation,” could have argued that Paul also had thought that “one must also undergo the ritual of circumcision to attain full salvation.”
In Acts 16:1-3, we read of Paul’s circumcision of Timothy, a young fellow worker as follows.
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
According to Jewish thinking, the son of a Jew was a Jew. If a child was born of a Jewish mother, even if the father was Greek, he was a Jew. Therefore, it was common knowledge that the child had to undergo the ritual of circumcision, the sign of Jewishness, at birth. However, Timothy’s mother, Eunice, did not have him circumcised for some reason. This could have been a major problem for Timothy in becoming a preacher of Christ’s salvation. This was because it was unforgivable and unacceptable to his fellow Jews that a man who was a Jew by nature was not circumcised, the sign of the Jewish people as required by the law of Moses. If Timothy had been the son of a Greek couple, and not of a Jew, there would have been no problem in his not being circumcised. There was no need for him to be circumcised in order to receive Christ’s salvation.
The fact that Timothy was the son of a Jew and was not circumcised was a great stumbling block to the average Jews, as it was a betrayal of the Lord and of his own people. If Timothy was to stand as an evangelist, he had to preach the gospel of Christ to his Jewish brethren as well. Therefore, any element on Timothy’s part that might cause his fellow Jews to stumble had to be eliminated first. So Paul had Timothy circumcised as a Jew. It is important to note that Paul did not force Timothy to be circumcised as a condition of salvation.
However, it can be assumed that Jewish evangelists were distorting and interpreting the circumcision of Timothy by saying to the Galatian believers, “Actually, Paul also believes that one must undergo the ritual of circumcision to attain full salvation.” Therefore, Paul may have asked in the first half of verse 11, “if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?” in order to emphasise that he did not think in that way. In other words, “If I were preaching that without the ritual of circumcision one could not attain full salvation, why should I be persecuted by the Jews in the towns where I preach?” According to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was persecuted by the Jews everywhere he went. Such persecution was also in the Galatian cities of Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium and Lystra.
In the second half of verse 11, Paul writes: “In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.” “In that case,” of course, means “if Paul were preaching that without the ritual of circumcision one could not attain full salvation.” What, then, is “the offense of the cross”? This would be, for one thing, the idea that those who are crucified are cursed by God, and that Christ is cursed by God. But not only that, but the teaching that if we believe in the cross of Christ, we can be saved without any works of the Old Testament law would also be called “the offense of the cross.”
As I said at the beginning of today’s sermon, it is a difficult teaching for many people to understand that they can be saved not by keeping the law but by believing in the cross of Christ. But that incomprehensible teaching is at the heart of Christianity. And this teaching can only be understood through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.