“Walk the bear!”
Hi Dojo readers,
Today I want to share a guest post by my friend and colleague Chris Thayer. Chris is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church…which is my home church. In fact, Chris is the one who got my old job there after I stepped down; and is exactly who I would’ve chosen to take the reigns if the choice had been mine to make!
Chris writes a weekly study guide on the passages that are preached on each Sunday for GSUMC’s small group leaders to use in their group discussions. These are called “Thayer’s Thoughts” and are a fantastic resource for the church’s leaders.
The following is the latest “Thayer’s Thought”. I hope Dojo readers enjoy it.
12 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whichthe world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—tothe Israel of God.
Galatians 6:12-16 (NIV)
About 8 years ago I spent some time in Romania in English camps. We spent about a month there, helping college students learn English by being conversation partners with them. Because we spent so long there, I learned some Romanian. One of the phrases I still remember to this day (pronounced phonetically) is “Plimboe Orrsue.” Literally translated, this phrase means “Walk the Bear.”
However, it’s what’s called an idiom – an expression that might not make literal sense, but has a figurative meaning. This phrase in Romanian is the equivalent of our English idiom “Go Take a Hike.” If I were translating for a Romanian that came to the United States and he said ‘Plimboe Orrsue” and I said in English: “Walk the Bear,” you would rightly be confused! However, if I change the words that he uses by translating it as “Go Take a Hike,” you would understand it.
This is one of the reasons translation of scripture is difficult. There are phrases, sayings, and ways the Biblical authors worded things that can be difficult to translate into English. Today’s passage of scripture from Galatians 6:12-16 has one of those phrases – particularly what Paul means when he says “the Israel of God.”
As we’ve talked about before in “Thayer’s Thoughts,” the Bible was not originally written in English. Most of the New Testament was written in a language called Koine (or “common”) Greek. Just as translation from Romanian to English can be difficult, sometimes it’s difficult for us to understand exactly what a Biblical author is trying to convey as we are translating their writings from Greek into English.
When we encounter such difficulties, our guide should always be context – what makes the most sense in light of what the author has been saying that is clear?
The question about “Israel of God” in verse 16, is whether Paul means by this ethnically Jewish people or if He is calling all believers (both Jew and Gentile alike) the “Israel of God.” Particularly people either believe:
- that Paul is referring to ethnically Jewish people who are being faithful to the Old Covenant (though not the New Covenant)
- that he is referring to ethnically Jewish people who have accepted Jesus as their Lord & Savior
- or that Paul is saying that all who follow Jesus (whether they are Jew or Gentile) are God’s “true Israel.”
When we look at just verse 16, any one of these definitions seems to be reasonable.
However when we look at the overarching argument of Galatians as a whole, the fog begins to clear. The context of Galatians makes it highly unlikely that Paul would continue to make a distinction between ethnically Jewish and the Galatian (Gentile) believers. Particularly important to this is Galatians 3:26-29.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Paul goes out of his way to say that there is no longer Jew nor Greek – and that those who are in Christ are Abraham’s offspring. In fact, Paul is so against this distinction that he makes a statement in 6:13 meant to repulse his readers.
13 Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.
He claims that those who want the Galatians to be circumcised (literally have their flesh cut off) are doing it so they can boast in that flesh. They want to use their foreskins as trophies!
This should rightly repulse us as is Paul’s intent.
Paul’s argument in the whole of Galatians, and especially in the closing section of 6:11-18 is that the only thing to boast about is in the cross of Christ. Circumcision does not matter, uncircumcision does not matter. The only thing that truly counts is being a new creation in Jesus the Messiah. It would be counterproductive to Paul’s entire argument to set a distinction between ethnic Israel and the Galatians.
Paul is not here saying that Christians have replaced Jews in their “place” with God.
He is also not saying that both Jews who have rejected Jesus and Gentiles who have accepted Jesus are both His people.
God’s people, His Israel, has always been those who have been faithful to Him and His work among them. Jesus came as the fulfillment of Israel’s task to share God with the nations so that all who accept Him might be called “The Israel of God” both Jew and Gentile alike.
Chris Thayer,
Director of Discipleship
Good Shepherd Church
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Eschatology, New Testament, Theological issues