Turning to JUDGES 4-5:
We heard yesterday that around the time of Joshua's death, an angel appeared to the people of Israel and rebuked them for disobedience. In chapter 2, the author of Judges summarized the fickleness of the people. And in chapter 3 we quickly heard about Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar— the first three judges.
PSALM 80:
In this poem, Asaph pictures the Lord as a shepherd and Israel like a vine. It is no accident that both of these are also pictures of Jesus in the New Testament. This psalm is marked by the repetition of these words, “Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies.”
We turn to GALATIANS 2.
This chapter contains difficult concepts for many modern readers! It complicates things when Paul repeats the word ‘sinners’ with slightly different shades of meaning while mixing in irony. Because of the number of little things that bother me as a Bible translator in the GNT, I have chosen to read this whole chapter to you from our Plain English Translation. (This is the English translation of our Plain Indonesian Translation.) The things that bother me have nothing to do with doctrine. It is just that, even with my background, the GNT leaves me confused. Paul uses Jewish insider talk, which modern readers need help to understand. The whole text for this chapter in the PET is found in the episode notes for this podcast.
The other apostles acknowledge Paul as an apostle
1 After fourteen years, I went to Jerusalem again with Barnabas. Titus went with us too. 2 I went there because God had directly told me to go. At that time, I had the opportunity to explain privately to the most prominent people of the church there about the Good News that I have proclaimed to non-Jewish people. I did that because I didn’t want all my work to be in vain— either in the Lord’s sight, or in human opinion.
3 But even though Titus, who accompanied me, was non-Jewish, they didn’t tell him to be circumcised. 4 However there were some who wanted that to happen. Several Jewish men had pretended to be fellow followers of Christ and had entered the Lord’s churches secretly— with the intent of spying on us. For they wanted to spy on our freedom from Jewish religious rules— which we have through our union with Christ Jesus. They wanted to enslave us to be bound again to various rules and to the Law. 5 But we didn’t in the slightest give in to follow their influence. For we wanted to maintain the true teaching that is found in the Good News about Christ, so that you can keep believing what we have taught you.
6 Those who were considered the most prominent didn’t suggest any addition at all to the Good News that I announce. (I really don’t care about a person’s status, whether they’re prominent or not. And of course God isn’t partial to anyone.) 7 On the contrary, those men realized that God had given differing ministries to me and Peter— specifically, God had given a special task to me to tell the Good News to the non-Jews,1 whereas Peter was given the task of telling the Good News to the Jews. 8 For it was evident that the God who gave Peter a special ability to be an apostle2 to the Jews, also gave the same ability to me to be an apostle to non-Jewish people. 9 So, when James, Peter, and John— who were included in that group of prominent men, realized that through God's kindness this special task was given to me, they shook hands with Barnabas and me in agreement saying, “You keep on reaching non-Jews, and we’ll continue to work with the Jews.” 10 The one and only request they made of us was that we remember that our poor brothers and sisters in Jerusalem need help. And from the beginning I have always been eager to help them.
Paul rebukes Peter
11 But when Peter visited Antioch, I felt it necessary to rebuke him directly because his behavior was wrong. 12 This is what happened: At the beginning of his visit to Antioch, he ate with non-Jewish people. Then when a group sent by James arrived, Peter stopped doing that and distanced himself from those non-Jewish people. He didn’t want to offend the feelings of the Jewish group, because men in that group were those who insist on the circumcision of all our non-Jewish brothers. 13 Then the other Jews there followed Peter’s hypocrisy. They also stopped eating with those non-Jews— and even Barnabas did the same. 14 So when I saw that their behavior was contrary to the truth of the Good News about Christ, in front of them all I rebuked Peter, “Even though you’re a Jew, just recently you behaved like a non-Jew when you still associated with them. So now it isn’t at all proper for you to align yourself with the group who want to force non-Jews to live according to Jewish rules!”
Jews and non-Jews are saved only through fully believing in Christ
15 Our3 brothers and sisters who were born Jewish— including myself, have at times, of course, followed the tradition of the Jews by calling people who aren't Jews ‘sinners’ because they don’t obey the Law. 16 But now we know that no one can be made right in God's sight by obeying the Law. The only way to be made right in God's sight is by believing in Christ Jesus— whether one is Jewish or not! So we who are Jews are evidently ‘sinners’ also, but now we have believed in Christ Jesus to be made right in God's sight. It isn’t possible to be made right in God’s sight by obeying the Law, because no one is able to obey the whole Law.
17 But there are Jews who believe in Christ who still don’t understand the way we are made right in God’s eyes— which is only through union with Christ. For them, if we no longer depend on the Law to become right before God, we’ve become ‘sinners’. That’s definitely wrong! Becoming a follower of Christ definitely doesn’t mean that we’ve become ‘sinners’! 18 For we in the past taught, “Let’s become right in God’s sight by depending on Christ.” If we now teach, “Turn away from Christ and depend on the Law again,” it becomes very evident that we really are ‘sinners’!4 19 And this is what I’ve experienced: When I tried in my own strength to obey the whole Law, I finally realized that I’m not able to do it, and would die in my sin. But it was in that despair that I realized the gift of God through Christ— which is eternal life. Now I consider that I’ve been crucified with Christ. 20 That means that I no longer control my life, but Christ is the One who is living in and through me. Now I live my whole life in this worldly body only through believing in the Son of God, who loved me so much that He gave Himself to redeem me. 21 So I reject turning away from the kindness of God which we receive through our union with Christ in order to go back to working to be made right in God's sight based on the Law. For if we suppose that mankind can be made right by obeying the Law, then it was useless for Christ to die for us!
1 + 2:7 non-Jews Literally, “(people) who aren’t circumcised.” And “Jews,” literally, “(people) who are circumcised.”
2 + 2:8 apostle The root meanings of ‘apostle’ are ‘herald/announcer’ and ‘representative’.
3 + 2:15-21 Our (inclusive) The Greek language doesn’t distinguish between ‘our’ inclusive (kita) and ‘our’ exclusive (kami), so there are those who interpret that Paul’s words to Peter ended with the last word in verse 14, or verse 16, or verse 21. It is likely that verses 15-21 are a summary of what Paul told Peter and all of the people at the meeting in Antioch.
4 + 2:18 verse 18 In this verse Paul uses the illustration of a building to symbolize a religious system, and uses ‘I’ hypothetically, as just an example. Paul wrote more literally, “For if I start to rebuild what I’ve torn down in the past, then I’m obviously a law breaker.”
No comments:
Post a Comment