St. Thomas Episcopal Church
6/2/13
Galatians 1:1-11 (I used the NRSV and J. Louis Martyn's excellent translation)
"Still This Troubled Heart"
When I was in college I
was worried about my salvation. I was
worried about whether or not I’d go to heaven.
I was no axe-murderer—like the guys you see on the 10 o’clock news—but, at
the same time, I was no activist, no monk, no “saint.” So I took a few religion classes to find out
more. I took these classes hoping I’d
find answers. So I read and I read and I
read.
“God will not deny grace to anyone who does
what lies within them.” I distinctively
remember reading these words by the late medieval theologian Gabriel Biel. I read further: as long you “did your best”—rejecting
evil and trying to do good—you would be saved.
These words, originally meant to be assuring, proved to be anything but
that. In fact, they had the opposite effect
on me. As I noted earlier, I wasn’t a
bad guy—at least, I didn’t think I was—but I had no way of knowing if I had
done enough. I had no way of knowing if
I had done what “lies within me.” In my
quest for assurance I was left with doubt.
I was left with fear.
But this all changed when
I encountered the good news of the gospel.
And I am excited that for my first sermon here at St. Thomas I get to
talk about the balm that quieted my troubled heart. I get to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What one theologian refers to as the one-way
love of God for suffering sinners like you and me.[1] What the New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce
summarized using these words, “Christ died [not for the healthy but] for the
ungodly.”
It’s been offending self-righteous
people for two thousand years now. For
just like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, some of us find
it downright upsetting that the wayward son is just as acceptable to the Father
as us—the diligent, rule-keeping—older sibling types. We’ve been trying to earn his love for some
time now, how dare he accept these ungodly ones who most certainly have not
done “what lies within them.”
Yet, when we internalize
the truth of the Gospel, even we—the self-righteous types—begin to realize that
this unfair reality—this message that is too good to be true—is, in fact, what
we’ve wanted all along. A love from the
praiseworthy that is truly unconditional; a love, that as the great hymn says,
will never let us go.
This gospel, while found
throughout both Old and New Testaments, is most explicitly stated in what has
come to be known as the Pauline Corpus—and that just means the collection of
letters traditionally attributed to St. Paul.
Unfortunately, for many of us Episcopalians, we’ve picked up the notion
somewhere that Paul somehow complicated what Jesus made simple.
This truly is an
unfortunate reality, and we would do well to learn from our Lutheran brothers
and sisters (of whom we are in full communion) that, rather than complicating Jesus’
teaching, Paul makes explicit what is often left implicit in the Gospel
narratives. And I’m going to say that
again because that was profound for me the first time I heard it. What Jesus often times left implicit, Paul
makes explicit.
But first, why the popular
notion that Paul just makes a mess of things?
Why do some people simply not like him?
One reason I’ve heard thrown around is that Paul is a very arrogant
person. A man obsessed with his
reputation. People point to the book of
Galatians, to the very passage we read this morning. Why does Paul need to say that he wasn’t sent
by “human commission nor from human authorities,” they ask? Is he implying that he’s better than other
first century missionaries? Is he saying
that he has a closer connection to God than the others? Is he saying that he doesn’t need anyone
else?
Some people also ask why
Paul is so harsh in verses 6-9 going so far as to wish a curse on his opponents
not once but twice! Is this not some
control freak that just cannot stand losing his position of prominence?
To address these questions
we have to first ask ourselves, why is Paul defending his position of
authority? And why might he be defending
it so passionately?
If we read these opening
verses closely we notice that some people are questioning Paul’s status as an
apostle. They seem to be saying that
Paul’s authority as an apostle was derivative.
Based on what we can piece together from these eleven verses and the
rest of the book, Paul’s detractors seem to say this for three reasons. First, he was not one of the original twelve
apostles. He came later, so he must have
learned all he knew from them. Second, he
had a checkered past—remember before he was missionary Paul he was
Christian-killing Saul. And third, and
probably most importantly, they simply did not like Paul’s “Law-free gospel.”[2] Much like the self righteous person in all of
us, Paul’s detractors thought that the gospel that says we are made right with
God by Christ’s work and not our own was too good to be true.
So what does Paul do? He addresses his accusers. He says that his apostleship is not
derivative. In regard to the truth that
he wasn’t one of the original Twelve, Paul says that his position as an apostle
was not bestowed on him by Peter, James, John or any other apostle, like his
accusers say, but directly by God through a revelation of Jesus. The Gospel—the teaching that he received—came
from Christ himself. (Think: Damascus
road experience).
In response to the reality
of his less-than-Christian past, Paul will make it clear that God chose him, a
“savage wolf,” before he was born to be “not only a sheep, but a shepherd (an
apostle).”[3] Yes, he had persecuted the faith, but Jesus
revealed himself to him, turned him from his wicked ways, and called him to
spread the good news of the gospel. And it’s
true, Paul’s adamant defense of his character might initially strike the reader
as arrogant or self-justifying. But if
you’re reading closely you’ll come to see that the reason Paul is pulling rank
so hard is not to puff himself up, but in order to defend the true gospel that
was so closely associated with his character.
You see, Paul’s detractors knew that the easiest way to discredit the
gospel of unconditional acceptance for sinners was to cut away at his
reputation. “You can’t trust Paul’s word,”
they say, “he wasn’t even one of the original twelve apostles.” “Paul, you mean that zealot who used to kill
us? How could you believe a guy like
that?”
In short, the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the good news of God’s unconditional love for sinners
like you and me was associated with Paul in Galatia, therefore, to defend this
Gospel, Paul had to first defend himself from half-true and false accusations.
So Paul is impassioned. Not because his reputation is at stake, but
because the message of liberation for sinners like you and me was under assault. One of the main things that distinguishes
Christianity from every other religion was under attack—the fact that you and I
are at peace with God not on account of our works or karma or on doing “what
lies within us,” but by the free gift of Jesus Christ.
So what does Paul do? Instead of beginning with a customary
thanksgiving for the Galatian congregation that marks the opening of all his
letters, Paul instead begins with a rebuke.
In every other epistle, Paul always opens the letter by praising the
congregation he is addressing, with something like “I give thanks to God always
for you because of this, this, and that reason.” He even does this for congregations that are
way less moral like the wicked Corinthians. In fact, if you read all of
Galatians, you’ll notice that the Galatian congregation is a much more moral
group than most. Nevertheless, Paul
begins his epistle to the Galatians not saying “I give thanks for you always,”
but instead, “I am amazed that you are so rapidly defecting from the God who
called you in his grace, and are turning your allegiance to a different
gospel.”[4]
So in place of
thanksgiving, Paul gives a rebuke. Why?
The good news of the gospel is at stake.
In its place Paul’s detractors offer a false gospel of enslavement. One which, as Paul says, “is really no gospel
at all.”
Paul goes on to say that
“some are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should
proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be
accursed!” And just like the Old
Testament prophets he says that last part twice for emphasis. He’s essentially saying, “No, really, the one
who would hand you over to a false gospel of slavery, the one who proclaims a
gospel of ‘do your best’ and you’ll be saved—double curse on that person.”
Again, why is Paul doing
this? Is it to make much of
himself? By no means. The gospel that he proclaimed, brothers and
sisters, is not of human origin—like his detractors’ false gospel. The gospel that Paul proclaimed is the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
And I think that for clarity’s sake, it is important to note
that Paul’s detractors were not saying that the Galatians, and, by extension,
you and I, are saved by works. They were saying we would be saved by
Jesus’ work plus our works. For Paul’s detractors, Jesus’ death and
resurrection alone was not sufficient for salvation. At
the end of the day, they, like Gabriel Biel, were saying, “God
will not deny grace to anyone who does what lies within them.”
But for Paul this was
anathema. In fact, it was an
anti-gospel. For Paul, there is no middle ground. To him,
Jesus plus works for salvation is not good news—“it is no Gospel.” In fact, according to Paul, the
combination undoes our freedom in Christ and results in slavery. For Paul, salvation is a free gift—it comes
through the faithfulness of Christ and the faithfulness of Christ alone![5]
Paul is so angry in this letter because his detractors are putting a burden on
these Galatian Christians that they could not bear. They were calling the
Galatians to bondage.
When I read the book of Galatians, when I experienced the
gospel and knew that my salvation, that my standing before God, was based on
what Jesus did and not what I’ve done or will do, I realized that the saying, “God
will not deny grace to anyone who does what lies within them” is not only
misguided, but oppressive. Salvation is
a free gift that Christ extends to you and me.
This is the balm that stilled my troubled heard. In this announcement I found assurance of
salvation. So if you’re worried about
your salvation this morning, if you’re worried about whether or not you are
going to heaven, if you’re worried about whether or not God will listen to your
prayers, fear not, doubt not. Christ has
paid the cost with his own blood and it is sufficient for my salvation and
yours.[6]
[1] Paul F. M. Zahl.
[2] F.F. Bruce
[3] John Calvin.
[4] J. Louis Martyn’s translation is
better than the NRSV here.
[5] Or, it comes through the gift of faith, and faith alone. Either way, salvation is external
to the individual and the church. It is
a gift not something we earn or contribute to.
[6] No less important (but maybe I’ll
focus on it when this text comes around three years from now), Paul is also
passionate about tearing down ethnic boundaries. By calling the Gentile
Christians at Galatia to be circumcised, Paul’s detractors are building up
walls between ethnic groups, thus marginalizing many of the non-Jews. In
addition announcing the reconciliation of God and man, the Gospel also declares
that we are all one in Christ regardless of cultural background or
practices. Christianity is truly a
universal faith.
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