Phil Cox

Galatians, Chapter 6

Galatians, Chapter 6
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Galatians 6:11-12

The Avoidance of Persecution, Part 1

The Warning

15th July 2011

Towards the end of his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul writes:

Galatians 6v11
See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

We can't be certain why he writes this. Some think it's a reference to Galatians 4v15, which suggests that he had problems with his eyesight, and say that he needed to use large letters in order to see what he was writing. Others think that he means "what a large letter" Galatians is but this is unlikely, since the word he uses here is not the same as the word he uses elsewhere for letters as documents rather than as characters. It seems probable that he writes these words for emphasis. He's saying pay close attention to this. It's a bit like using bold or italics or underline in a modern document to help readers to focus on a part of it. So what he writes next is important. He says:

Galatians 6v12
Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

A first-century Jew who was sympathetic to Christianity, or who had even been converted, would experience tension between his heritage, in which circumcision was an important sign of being a believer in God, and the new understanding that Jesus Christ had fulfilled the ceremonial law once for all by dying on the cross, and that circumcision was not a sign of faith, but of an attempt to justify oneself by keeping the law, which was irrelevant for Gentile Christians. Many would be persecuted by their fellow-Jews for associating with those who claimed to follow the Jewish Messiah without converting to Judaism and being circumcised.

We dont't have that problem, at least not where I live. But we do have other pressures to conform. The political climate in Britain in our day demands equality in almost all areas of life. Increasingly, this includes the idea that all religions are equal. But Christians cannot accept that this is true. Jesus said:

John 14v6
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus is unique. Only Jesus was fully man and fully God. Only Jesus died to take the penalty for our sin.

Acts 4v12
Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Either Christianity is true, and Jesus is who He says He is, in which case all other religions fall far short of Christianity, or Christianity is false, and Jesus is just a man, who did not pay for our sins or rise from the dead, in which case Christianity is worse than useless and we should abandon it immediately and unreservedly.

The political climate in Britain in our day also demands toleration of what Christians cannot tolerate and condemnation of what Christians cannot condemn. If Christians marry, they are called to marry someone of the opposite sex, and to remain married under parted by death. Christians are called to love their children and not abort them. Christians are called to abstain from sex before and outside marriage, from drunkenness and from twisting the truth for their own advantage (which should distinguish from most of our politicians). Christians are called to proclaim the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the holiness of the church (despite the scandals that beset it - holiness is not the same as sinlessness, much as we wish it was) and the essential need for repentance and faith. We are called to live God's way - not the way we learn in school or from the BBC or the newspapers, but the way taught in the Bible.

Am I using large enough letters? Can others please stand up and do a better job than I can? The Truth is the Truth, the Way is the Way and the Life is the Life, and there is no other. We will be persecuted (to some degree) for shouting this from the rooftops, but that is what we must do.