By Rollin Grams, Bible and Mission. (image: Pablo Heimplatz / Unsplash)
Introduction
The culmination of Paul’s argument in Galatians, and particularly from 3.1-4.31, is: ‘For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery’ (Galatians 5.1). This essay seeks to understand Paul’s opposition to a continuing custodial role for the Law and a use of human philosophies to deal with sinful passions and desires. His arguments against these are found in Galatians and Colossians. By focussing on the problem of the Law and of philosophy, we can better understand Paul’s theology. He believed that the Gospel was the only way to deal with sin not simply in terms of our actions but more basically in terms of our sinful desires and passions of the flesh.
The task ahead is to understand several large-scale matters in Paul’s theology, those having to do with a right understanding of the human plight and a right understanding of God’s solution. So much Protestant theology has articulated this in terms of sin and justification, and this, once justification is understood properly as both ‘justifying the sinner’ and ‘making the sinner righteous’, can get to the heart of the matter. However, I would argue that Paul’s understanding might better be articulated as follows:
· the human plight is a bondage to both sinful acts and the sinful desires that produce them;
· God’s solution is both a forgiveness of sins or justification of the sinner and an inward transformation in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
The problem and solution are moral, not just juridical. The moral solution is not in custodial oversight and regulations but in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. If we misunderstand Paul on these matters, we end up with a view of the Christian life as one of a sinner continuing in sin but forgiven by God’s grace. This is only partly true, but it misses the deeper truths that Paul is at pains to explain and that I hope to articulate with a look at Galatians and Colossians together.
Galatians
In Galatians 4.1-2, Paul compares life under the Law to the life of a son who, though he is the ‘owner of everything’ remains ‘under guardians and managers until the date set by his father’. The underage son had no rights but, like a slave, was under the hand of the father. In fact, the paidagōgos that Paul mentions in Galatians 3.24-25 as equivalent to the Law was a slave. The slave was, in some regard, was for a time above the future heir.