Our True Identity

This Sunday we’ll continue to walk through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In chapter 3, Paul continues to implore the Christians in Galatia to reject any teaching that would require obedience to Jewish Law in order to fully know Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. He begins by making a contrast between life lived by faith in the gospel and life under the Law. He asks the Galatians directly: “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2).

Apparently, when Paul preached the crucified and risen Jesus to the Galatians, they experienced the Spirit in profound ways (including miracles!) when they responded to Paul’s preaching in faith. After Paul left Galatia, however, some rival Christian missionaries came to these nascent congregations and told them that while their faith in Jesus was fine, it wasn’t adequate. They insisted that the Galatian Christians submit to the Jewish Law, specifically circumcision, food laws, and observing special days, in order truly to be marked (quite literally!) as part of God’s people.

Paul will go on in chapter 5 to affirm that the key to Christian maturity is to “live by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) and “be guided by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25), trusting that, as we learn to do so, the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:23) will become a natural part of our lives. Using strong language, Paul insists that choosing to submit to circumcision negates the need we have of Christ’s death (Galatians 2:21), and, if responding in faith to the preaching of the crucified and risen Jesus somehow “releases” the Spirit, submitting to the Law makes life in the Spirit impossible.

The question for us today is likely not whether to submit to circumcision and food laws. Rather, the question is whether we find our identity as God’s people by virtue of trusting Jesus and his work on our behalf or by virtue of some sort of external behavior. Every Christian tradition has unique temptations along these lines. As Anglicans, we are often tempted to define spirituality in terms of our liturgy. While our liturgy is a powerful means with which to experience the gospel and the Spirit, it can also become an identity marker that serves to quench the movement of the Spirit in our midst.

When the Spirit is free to move, we become more and more aware of our identity as God’s beloved children. Paul writes, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6), and, over time, we begin to see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. So, let’s rejoice that by responding in faith to the good news of Jesus the crucified and risen Messiah, the Spirit is unleashed in our lives. Let’s also be careful that we don’t inadvertently choose to be marked by anything other than Christ and his work on our behalf. To paraphrase Paul, “For in Christ Jesus neither liturgy nor prayer book counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

Peace,

Chris