Notes and Questions for Galatians 5
5.2 – But Timothy was circumcised in Acts 16… why would Paul allow this? What’s the point?
5.11 – Why is the cross offensive?
5.13 – How can we serve one another in love? How is this a freedom? How does this go against human nature (what Paul talks about soon after)?
5.14 – My Old Testament professor says that in many prophetic books there is mentioned justice and rigteousness. We have taken them to mean those rather abstract ideas, but back then, it meant doing right by the people you were in relationship with (ie your neighbors and other Jews) and to act decisively for them (ie judging the poor). How might Paul be talking about the same thing? If this is true, what does this tell you about the interaction b/n the old and new testament? Where have we perhaps gone wrong in the church?
If the law can be summed up this way… what are we really doing by doing as Paul says? Who else self-described himself this way and how did he do it? What can we learn from that?
5.15 – How do these tie together? What devouring ties into the freedom of sin? What is the relationship between this and the things Paul soon mentions?
5.17 – What does this tell you about people and about God?
5.18 – What is Paul’s practical application that makes light of this seemingly hanging verse? What is it that works and what doesn’t when combating the flesh? Why is that (think Biblically and practically)? Think back to 5.6
5.19 – Do you agree with all these? Do you question some of them (that’s okay!)? What might be problematic about these especially in light of community?
5.22 – Should anything else go here? Why? How might these be helpful in community and what might that look like?
5.24 – How does this verse make you feel?
5.26 – How might these things happen today?
Theological and Practical Reflection: Raymond Brown points out that there is freedom in Christ and yet Paul here lists a bunch of things that are like rules… much like law… He asks what is the interplay between responsible freedom and clear directives that border on law? Can we find any overarching guidelines in Paul’s letter? Or is there something just Biblically thematic?
Let’s talk about Freedom. What comes up in your mind when that word comes up? We live in the US. What does freedom mean here? Is that Biblical (yes, no, partly?)? What are different types of freedom and how do we describe our freedom in Christ?
What are ways to live by the Spirit – How do you need to work on that? How can we better embody these?
And lastly, a random thought having to do with what we’ve been talking about. A lot of the Jewish laws are not inherently sinful, such as touching a dead body. It simply made one unclean (which doesn’t mean sinful). It went against the nature of God and thus you could not immediately enter God’s presence. But in 1 Samuel 14, some men are sinning because they ate blood from their meat. Perhaps it is NOW sinful because of the law. It isn’t inherently sinful for doing it, but because the law says so. How does that interact with what Paul says? Perhaps it is only that it is not trusting in God by obeying Him that makes it sinful, and not the act itself?
