Download discussion questions: Galatians 4:8-20
Calvary Institute – Fall 2018 Index
Meat and Bones
Being Thanksgiving weekend, a turkey illustration seemed appropriate. Like turkey, some Biblical passages are a combination of meaty parts and bony parts. Our discussion started with the question, “What parts of this passage are “bony” – not lending themselves to straightforward understanding? Which parts are “meaty” – probably the writer’s main point?
Several suggestions pointed out the “boney” parts, puzzling phrases or ideas:
- Become as I am… (v. 12)
- Because of bodily illness … (v. 14)
- They seek you…(v. 17a)
- They wish to shut you out (v. 17b)
Sometimes “bony” parts are the most personal to Paul and his readers, such as the experiences they shared in the past. Verse 13 refers to the “first time” he preached to them, so perhaps there were other previous visits as well. Because of their shared history, his readers likely knew exactly what he meant. We may not know enough of the details to fully understand. As one writer observed, “A neat logical sequence is difficult to find.”[1]
“Bony” parts also may be the most prone to speculation. It may be interesting to guess about what might have prompted Paul’s comments, but we need to be aware that we are speculating and now make decisive doctrinal pronouncements from the speculation. We also must remember that the difficult or “bony” parts may be unclear, but they are not unimportant. Even those puzzling comments are still Spirit-inspired Scripture that we should try to understand. However, if they don’t seem to be Paul’s main focus, then those sections may not be where we should spend most of our limited study time.
Turning our attention to the “meaty” parts of the passage, our group focused mostly on two parts:
- In the beginning paragraph, the most significant fact for the Galatians was that they have come to be known by God (v. 9b, as we saw in last week’s discussion).
- In the final paragraph, Paul’s heartfelt concern “until Christ is formed in you (v. 19).
Relational Orthodoxy
Looking at the passage as a whole, a question which is often useful is, “What is the tone or atmosphere of this section?” One person in our group pointed out that there is more to this passage than just arguing theology. There is care and emotion expressed in phrases such as, “I fear for you” (v. 11a) and “my children” (v. 19, “my little children” in some versions, such as ESV, ESV, NKJV, or “my dear children” in NIV and NLT, translating tekna, τέκνα).
Even the personal, “bony” parts of the passage reflect the personal connection Paul had (and felt) with the Galatian Christians. Whatever bodily illness (v. 13) troubled him, the believers were a blessing to him (v. 15a) and full of sacrificial love (v. 15b).
The change in tone in this passage is almost abrupt after his earlier harsh words, being “astonished” at their behavior (1:6) and calling them “foolish” and “bewitched” (3:1,3). The first half of his letter was spent building the theological case for belief and grace over works of the law. In this passage he addresses the awful consequences of the theological wrong turn they seem to have taken back to slavery.
Paul was passionate about orthodox belief, and he was passionate about his relationship with the people he had known in the past. His theological reasoning turned to an appeal based on relationships. His concern for them and their care for him were part of the evidence of the validity of his message and their faith. Someone in our group pointed out the parallel idea in Jesus’ own words, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Orthodox belief is expressed relationally.
Part of Paul’s argument against the “circumcision party” (Galatians 2:11) was their self-focused efforts in drawing the Galatians away from grace and back to the law. “The intentions of the troublemakers, says Paul, are dishonorable; they want to gain adherents for themselves…”[2] Our group discussed what “dishonorable” or “not commendable” (v. 17) might mean. Their motives to gain adherents (“to seek them.” v 17b ) might have included shame and peer pressure (as was the case with Peter’s fear of eating with Gentiles, 2:11). Clearly, the trouble-makers wanted to isolate the Galatian believers (to “shut them out,” v. 17a), to keep them away from Paul and his message of grace. As one member of our group pointed out, the “dishonorable” approach was not about engaging another viewpoint and providing arguments and evidence. On the other hand, Paul had spent most of the letter to this point carefully explaining why the Galatians should continue in the orthodox belief he had preached to them. In this section Paul adds the relational dimension. He continues to care for them and reminds them of their care for him in contrast to the self-centered troublemakers whose goal is “that you will seek them” (v. 17b). The relational orthodoxy Paul describes has a clear goal, that “Christ is formed in you” (v. 19).
Christ Formed In You – The Goal
What does that look like? Several people in our group offered input:
- Sanctification – growing in holiness
- Maturity – growing from little children into wisdom
- Christlikeness – becoming more like Jesus
- S. Lewis expresses what Paul might have meant: “Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”[3] He expands that image as the process of Christ
really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has. At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity.[4]
Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time, etc.) offers a powerful picture:
We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.[5]
Our western mindset can make the mistake of individualizing everything in Scripture. Relational orthodoxy includes the corporate element, Christ being formed in us as a community of believers:
[In the early church] why were so many drawn in, when being a Jesus-follower was dangerous? Kreider [a seminary professor of church history] says it’s because life together simply transformed people into people who acted like Jesus. It was very attractive, in a disordered culture of addictions with a widening gap between rich and poor, to see people who were truly free. They were modeling an alternative society, one that looked like the kingdom of God. It was wildly appealing.[6]
Perhaps Christ being formed in us can be summarized as learning to live and to love like Jesus.
Christ Formed in You – The Process
One comment in our group was that the process can be messy, even as Paul’s language reflected – begging (v. 12), laboring (v. 11), being perplexed (v. 20), experiencing fear (v. 11), facing trials (v. 14), feeling like enemies (v. 16).
Paul models gracious love and sound doctrine – relational orthodoxy. His love for the Galatians does not dilute his orthodoxy, and his orthodoxy does not retreat from his love for them:
What Paul’s language does bring out is not only his own exceptional capacity for affection (v. 19) but also his capacity for inspiring a responsive affection in others… Paul protests his unchanging love for his friends, even while he remonstrates vigorously with them.[7]
How do we become and help each other become “little Christs” as Christ is formed in us? How do we maintain unchanging love when we need to “remonstrate vigorously” with each other in that Christ-forming process?
Soul Care
Much of the rest of Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia deals in more specific ways that Christ is formed in believers. He has made his theological case in the first half of the letter, now he turns to application (as is common in many of Paul’s New Testament writings).
One of the goals of this season of Calvary Institute has been to explore the topic of Soul Care, how we communicate to others what we are learning in our walk with the Living God? A brief (very brief!) summary of Soul Care as I am using the term is on GoodNotSafe. There is also a helpful (and free) video series available.
Soul Care as outlined in that summary is one approach to spiritual formation, of seeing Christ formed in each other. As we continue through Galatians, I encouraged our group to become familiar with the general ideas of Soul Care as we seek to apply Paul’s encouragement and exhortations to the Galatians. Larry Crabb, the author of Soul Talk and the source of most of this material on Soul Care, says that training in Soul Care is not intended to give us confidence as skilled counselors or spiritual directors. Rather, his approach to Soul Care is primarily aimed at showing each of us how helpless and ill-equipped we are (regardless of formal training). Understanding Soul Care increases our desperate dependence on the Holy Spirit for the absolutely supernatural work – Christ formed in you.
[1] Douglas J. Moo, Galatians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2013), 287.
[2] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), 211.
[3] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 1980), Kindle Edition, p. 177.
[4] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 1980), Kindle Edition, pp. 191-192.
[5] Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art (Wheaton, Illinois: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1980), 122.
[6] Brant Hansen, Blessed Are the Misfits: Great News for Believers who are Introverts, Spiritual Strugglers, or Just Feel Like They’re Missing Something (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2017), 63-64; Kindle edition location 1195;
referencing
Alan Kreider, “Worship and Evangelism in Pre-Christendom: The Laing Lecture, 1994,” BiblicalStudies.org.uk, accessed April 29, 2017, https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/vox/vol24/worship_kreider.pdf
[7] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), 211.