Brethren, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God. Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
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“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my hand.” So begins the concluding remarks and exhortation by the great Paul. Paul wants to emphasise his apostolic authenticity. He wants to show and demonstrate to the Galatians the importance and significance of what he is writing to them. He wants them to understand his message: those who insist upon circumcision as a precondition of being a Christian are hypocritical because they do not follow the law themselves. So how can they insist upon others following the law who are not Jewish?
This is a double standard as well as a great hypocrisy. The reality is that our world today is full of double standards and hypocrisy. We Christians have a tendency towards double standards. We can be the harshest of judges. We think that God and goodness repose totally in our parish and that our assistance to the church is only measured by what we give to our local church that we attend. To be truthful, we all need discernment. The ability to separate right from wrong, moral from immoral, and ethical from unethical is something that we are all called to do. We call this Discernment. Discernment is the fount of and the principal of all virtues.
Saint Anthony the Great, a founder of monasticism, was present at a discussion of monks who were seeking to determine the principal virtue: that is, the virtue capable of keeping a monk from being harmed by the nets of the devil and his deceit. Everybody proffered their own views as to the greatest of what such virtue should be. Some said fasting, others vigils, others voluntary poverty, others detachment from personal possessions and others again as acts of compassion. Then, the great Anthony responded. He said: all these things you have said are both necessary and helpful for those who are searching for God and who wish to come to him. But we cannot award the first place to any of these virtues; for there are many among us who have endured fasting vigils, or have withdrawn into the desert, or have practised poverty to such an extent that they have not left themselves enough for their daily sustenance, whilst others have performed acts of compassion so generously that they no longer have anything to give; and yet these same monks, having done all this, have nevertheless have left the path of virtue and slipped into vice. What is it then that made them stray from the straight path? In my opinion it was simply that they did not possess the grace of discernment; for it is this virtue that teaches a man to walk along the Royal Road, swerving neither to the right through immoderate self-control, nor to the left through indifference and laxity. Discernment is a kind of eye and lantern of the soul . . . Discernment scrutinises all the thoughts and actions of man. It distinguishes and sets aside everything that is base and not pleasing to God and keeps man free from delusion.
So what does this have to do with Paul? Well, Paul is saying in effect that: that those who insist upon circumcision do so NOT from a desire to fulfilling what they truly believed to be the situation most pleasing to God but instead only seek to please themselves. That they wanted to lord it over these “Gentile Christians” and in effect tell them that until they were circumcised they were not in Christ.
Those that compel you to be circumcised do not have Christ in their hearts but want to make a good showing before men of their virtue as upholders of the law and champions of the Jewish nation. To them, circumcision is the invitation that calls you to be a Jew first and secondly a Christian. Thus, these circumcisers hoped to avoid the persecutions that were about to begin from the Roman authorities. Persecutions that were to commence because Christians were not considered Jews by the Jews and were going to be denounced to the authorities which opened them up to persecution. And, who knows these Gentiles may be converted to Judaism proper and forget about Christianity thus avoiding such persecution.
Paul sees this as wrong. For Paul, the glory lies in the cross of Jesus Christ and the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified for you and me. If Christ crucified himself for you and me then we need to be crucified to the world. We need to be a new creation. We need to follow Christ.
This means to us today that we have to be able to be discerning against those who are fundamental in their understanding of the message of Christ and those who are reformers of the message of Christ. One, the fundamentalists, will lead us off the path of Christ with their message that there can be no innovation in the church and that we should live our lives as Christians did in the time of Christ. What nonsense. Whether we like it or not, the church has evolved from Christ and will continue to do so. This does not mean that the Christian message changes. What it means is that there is an acknowledgement that the Holy Spirit is active in our lives and church today. The message may stay the same but the delivery and the mode of delivery evolves and will continue to evolve.
On the other hand, we have the reformers. Everything can be thrown out the window. Christ was a man for his time and, they believe, that if he was born today his message would be different. What nonsense. To suggest the Christian teaching is not eternal and that Christ may resile from his teaching is not only audacious but most certainly wrong. Christ says: “the words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority: but of the Father who dwells in me does the works.” (John 14:10) Christ is thus saying is if you reject my words you reject God. And you reject God’s work because he gave the works to Christ and you have rejected Christ’s word.
The reality is this if you wish the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit you must walk in the footsteps of Christ and be a new creation. Not concern yourself with the past law but walking in accordance with the rule of being a new creation, walking in peace and steeped in mercy and in the way of the Lord. It is in that way that we can be saved.
