5 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. 4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
Galatians 5:1-15
Dear God, I think I don’t appreciate enough the big deal circumcision was for Jewish people back then. Maybe it is now. I don’t know. But there was apparently a big movement within the new Christians that Gentiles be circumcised in order to be “in the club.” And I want to say that Paul might have been the first (and only?) one to preach that Jesus’s grace through his resurrection and the New Covenant he brought with the power of the resurrection would supersede the Old Covenant, including circumcision. What if Paul had not explicitly made this such a big deal in his writing? Would we still require Christians to be circumcised. to this day?
I actually know an adult man who was in his 50s when he was circumcised, but it was for health reasons and to avoid repeated infections and not for religious/Christian reasons. He loves you and has followed you for a long time. His lack of circumcision had no bearing on whether or not he was devoted to you. Your grace was enough.
So what are some of the things that I might be holding onto that are really “Old Covenant?” Are there freedoms offered through Jesus that I’ve missed? The first thing that comes to mind are LGBTQ+ issues. Some Christians are adamant on this one. Frankly, I’m a little squishy on it. If Paul were here today, what would he say? Some would say that if you don’t vote one way or another in an election then you aren’t a Christian. If Paul were here today and actually had a vote to use, how would he cast it?
Father, I just got a song from the 80s going in my head. I think it might have been called “Just Like Him” (I think). I tried to find it a minute ago and couldn’t. But the chorus says, “I want to be just like him faithful and true, I want to just like him in everything I do. I want to be just like him in every single way, I want to be like him every single day.” At least that’s how I think it goes. Either way, It’s the song of my heart right now. I want to be just like you today. Help me to do that. Help me to love well. Help me to lead others to you and in peace. Help me to be your child.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
