ガラテヤの信徒への手紙1:10 Galatians 1:10,
こんなことを言って、今わたしは人に取り入ろうとしているのでしょうか。それとも、神に取り入ろうとしているのでしょうか。
（ガラテヤ1:10）
この10節の意味を理解するためには、「ほかの福音」を宣べ伝えた伝道者たちが、パウロをどのように批判していたかを考えてみる必要があります。「ほかの福音」を宣べ伝えた伝道者たちは、パウロの教えを一応評価した上で、「あなたがたが受け入れるべきもう一つ別の福音がある」と言って、自分たちの教えを宣べ伝えたのでしょう。つまり、パウロの言うように、人はキリストを信じることによって救われるのだが、それだけでは完全な救いを受けることはできず、旧約聖書の律法、特に割礼のおきてを守らなければならないのだ、という主張の仕方です。彼らが、パウロの教えを一応評価した上で、それを補うような「もう一つ別の福音がある」と主張したことによって、ガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちは容易にだまされてしまったのでしょう。
それだけでなく、これらの伝道者たちは、巧みにパウロのことを批判していた可能性があります。すなわち、パウロが旧約聖書の律法を守らなくてもキリストを信じることによって救われると教えていたのは、福音を人々に受け入れやすいものにして「人に取り入ろうとしている」のだ、という批判です。あるいはそれだけではなくて、パウロは「神様に取り入ろうとしている」のだ、という批判もしていたのかもしれません。なぜなら、パウロはユダヤ人以外の異邦人のクリスチャンには割礼の儀式を受ける必要はないと教えていましたが、ユダヤ人やユダヤ人のクリスチャンにはそのように教えませんでした。むしろ、割礼の儀式を受けることを勧めていたとも考えられます。たとえば、パウロと共にキリストの福音を宣べ伝えたテモテというユダヤ人クリスチャンの伝道者に、パウロは割礼の儀式を授けたということが使徒言行録の16章3節に記されています。テモテの割礼はおそらくこの手紙が書かれた後の出来事でしょうが、パウロは同じような姿勢をずっともっていたに違いありません。このようなパウロの姿勢を、「ほかの福音」を宣べ伝えた伝道者たちは批判したのではないでしょうか。つまり、「パウロは異邦人クリスチャンには割礼の儀式を受ける必要がないと教えている。これは人に取り入っているのだ！そして、ユダヤ人クリスチャンには割礼の儀式を受けさせている。これは神様に取り入っているのだ！」という批判です。この批判は、これだけ取り上げるともっともなようにも思えますが、実はパウロの意図を誤解したものです。パウロは、できるだけ多くの人にキリストを宣べ伝えるために、相手の立場に立って行動していたのです（一コリント9:19-21参照）。
（3月12日の説教より）
As I have said many times before, the basis of Christian teaching is very simple. That is, it teaches that “if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.” However, there are only few people who hear this and say, “That’s a wonderful teaching. I would love to believe it.” Rather, they may say, “I have not sinned. I don’t need forgiveness of sins” or “There is no such thing as eternal life. I don’t believe in such things.”
Therefore, claims are sometimes made to deliver Christian teaching in a way that makes it accessible to a large number of people. One of such claims in our time is what is known as “prosperity theology.” “Prosperity theology” is a teaching that emphasises material wealth, teaching that those who believe in Jesus Christ will receive material as well as spiritual blessings. This teaching has been influential in many areas of modern-day America and Africa, and the spiritual adviser to former US President Donald Trump, a female pastor called Paula White, is one of those who advocate “prosperity theology.”
Advocates of “prosperity theology” use a number of specific biblical passages as the basis for their arguments, divorced from their context. For example, the passage in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,” or Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” is interpreted as a promise of material wealth. They also take the words in verse 2 of third John, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul,” as a basis for praying for material wealth and physical health.
The popularity of “prosperity theology” is probably due to the fact that it is in line with the real human desire to be materially rich and to have good physical health. It is everyone’s natural wish to be rich rather than poor, and to be healthy rather than sick. It may be said that the affirmation of this wish up front is frank. However, it is not the primary thing the Bible teaches. Christ teaches in Matthew 6:31-33 as follows.
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Jesus teaches us that since God the Father knows well that we need material things to live on earth, the first thing we should seek is not material things but “the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” i.e., God’s dominion and right relationship with him. Jesus shows us that if we seek God’s dominion and right relationship with God, material things also will be given to us as a secondary thing. In other words, the major problem with “prosperity theology” is that it emphasises the second thing belittling the first.
In contrast to “prosperity theology,” there are also claims made to make Christian teaching more demanding in an attempt to demonstrate the correctness of that teaching. This is the claim that in order to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life, it is not enough to believe in Christ alone, but that the Old Testament law must be kept. It is true that Christian teaching encourages people to live according to the Ten Commandments given by God. However, this is not because one must keep the Ten Commandments to be saved. This is because those who are saved by Christ keep the Ten Commandments to express their thanks to God.
The two ways of life – keeping the commandments in order to be saved and keeping the commandments in order to express thanks for being saved – are, on the surface, very similar. At first glance, people who live both ways of life seem to be living the same way. However, they are actually quite different. This is because the way of life of keeping the commandments in order to be saved is based on the assumption that one can keep the commandments, while the way of life of keeping the commandments in order to express thanks for being saved is based on the assumption that one cannot keep the commandments completely. And the idea that one can keep God’s commandments perfectly is a very dangerous idea that renders salvation through Christ meaningless. In the tradition of Calvin the Reformer, we value the teaching that Christians are to live a life of thanksgiving to God. However, we must be careful not to become so much concerned with a life of thanksgiving to God that we become legalistic, saying that if we do not keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, we cannot be saved.
In this light, we can see that Christian teaching is in danger of deviating in two directions. One is to try to change the teaching to the liking of the people, and the other is to try to make the teaching stricter and emphasise correctness. Paul’s opponents in this letter to the Galatians were the legalistic evangelists who wanted to make Christian teaching stricter and emphasise correctness. In the Galatian churches in what is now Turkey, after Paul and Barnabas, who preached the gospel of Christ, left, other evangelists came in. These evangelists taught that Christians must not only believe in Christ but also keep the Old Testament law. In particular, the evangelists placed a special emphasis on the Old Testament law commanding the practice of circumcision. Circumcision is a ritual in which the skin surrounding the male penis is cut off as a sign that the Jewish people are God’s people. It was usually performed on the eighth day after birth, according to the Old Testament provisions of Genesis 17:12 and Leviticus 12:3. It was also performed by Gentiles converting to Judaism, even if they were adults. And the same claim was made in the church of Antioch in the province of Syria, which sent Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey. Namely, Acts 15:1 states that “some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’”
In verse 6, shortly before today’s passage, Paul expresses his concern about the Galatian congregations who were accepting these claims in the strong words, “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.” Then, in verses 8 and 9, Paul issues a very harsh curse against evangelists who preach “a different gospel” as follows.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Paul then goes on to explain in verse 11 and below what the gospel he preached to the Galatian churches was all about. But before he gets to that explanation, he writes a few words in defence of his position against the evangelists who preached “a different gospel.” That is what he says in verse 10 of today’s passage as follows. “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
To understand the meaning of verse 10, we need to consider how the evangelists who preached “a different gospel” criticised Paul. As we discussed last week, the evangelists who preached “a different gospel” would have evaluated Paul’s teaching to a point and then preached their own, saying, “There is another gospel that you should accept.” In other words, their way of arguing that, as Paul says, one can be saved by believing in Christ, but that this alone is not enough to receive full salvation, and that one must keep the Old Testament law, especially the law of circumcision. The congregations of the Galatian churches could easily have been deceived by the fact that they, after having given Paul’s teaching some credit, insisted that there was “a different gospel” to supplement it.
Not only that, these evangelists could have cleverly criticised Paul. That is, they criticised Paul, saying that Paul’s teaching that people could be saved by believing in Christ even if they did not keep the Old Testament law, was “seeking the approval of man” by making the gospel more palatable to them. Or perhaps not only that, but Paul was also criticised for “seeking the approval of God.” This is because Paul taught that non-Jewish Gentile Christians did not need to undergo the ritual of circumcision, but he did not teach so for Jews or Jewish Christians. Rather, he may have encouraged Jews or Jewish Christians to undergo the ritual of circumcision. For example, we read in Acts 16:3 that Paul gave the ritual of circumcision to a Jewish Christian evangelist named Timothy, who preached the gospel of Christ with Paul. Timothy’s circumcision probably occurred after this letter was written, but Paul must have had the same attitude all along. This attitude of Paul’s was probably criticised by the evangelists who preached “a different gospel.” That is, “Paul teaches that Gentile Christians do not need to undergo the ritual of circumcision. This is seeking the approval of man! And he is making Jewish Christians undergo the ritual of circumcision. This is seeking the approval of God!” This is the criticism against Paul by these legalistic evangelists.
This criticism may seem plausible when taken on its own, but it is actually a misunderstanding of Paul’s intentions. Paul was acting from the other side in order to proclaim Christ to as many people as possible. This Paul’s attitude can be seen in 1 Corinthians 9:19-21 as follows.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
In other words, when Paul preached the gospel to the Jews who were under the law, he acted as a Jew, and when Paul preached the gospel to the Gentiles who were not under the law, he acted as a Gentile. Returning to today’s passage, in the first half of verse 10, Paul says: “Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?” This is an attempt to say, “No, I am seeking neither the approval of man nor God!” The second half of verse 10 also asks, “Or am I trying to please man?” This is an attempt to say, “No, I am not trying to please man!”
And at the end of verse 10, Paul affirms, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” The phrase “trying to please man” might be better paraphrased as “trying to be liked by man.” In other words, “I am not acting to be liked by man. If that were the case, then I would not be a servant of Christ. But it is not so, I am acting as a servant of Christ!” He is affirming that he is “a servant of Christ.” So what does it mean to act as “a servant of Christ,” as Paul affirms? It is to proclaim the gospel message entrusted to us by Christ without changing its content. And the gospel message entrusted to us by Christ is, in the words of this letter 2:16: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” To put it in even clearer terms, it means what I have always said: “Believe in Jesus Christ and you will receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.”
Nevertheless, you may ask yourself the following question. “If we preach the gospel message faithfully without changing its content and no one believes it, then what shall we do? Wouldn’t it be better to change it a little and have more people believe?” To this I would like to respond as follows. “The message of the gospel cannot be believed by anyone as long as they are stuck in the world’s way of thinking. But when God’s Holy Spirit works in them and opens their hearts, they will be able to believe. Therefore, do not change the content of the gospel message, but proclaim it while praying for God’s Holy Spirit to work. Then those who believe will surely be raised by the work of the Holy Spirit!” Let us form a church that faithfully proclaims the Gospel as servants of Christ, rather than seeking the approval of man.