Friday, June 7, 2024

Today's Scripture
Galatians 3:1–14

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing? — if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” — in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (NRSV)

Reflection

“Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” Today’s reading from Galatians brought the Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick’s 1922 sermon by that title to mind. Why? In part because Fosdick emphasized a “progressive unfolding” or revelation of God — and not a static, time-bound theory of inspiration:

“There are multitudes of Christians, then, who think, and rejoice as they think, of the Bible as the record of the progressive unfolding of the character of God to his people from early primitive days until the great unveiling in Christ; to them the Book is more inspired and more inspiring than ever it was before.”

Centuries earlier, Paul criticized the Galatians for spurning their own witness of the risen Christ in favor of traditional Mosaic Law. “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law,” Paul asked, “or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?”

We humans are social animals. We set rules and prescribe laws to bring order to complex societies. Understandably, that same regulatory impulse informs religious practice. And maybe it strikes us as just a little too easy to receive the promise of the Spirit through faith alone. Overt adherence to religious laws, at the very least, gives us — and others — evidence of compliance and a template for judgment. Yet with this comes the risk of tribalism. Let’s not kid ourselves: tribalism can mean exclusion, favoritism, bias.

Consider that we follow a Great Redeemer who healed the sick, performed miracles on the Sabbath, and identified the Samaritan as neighbor. Who also said, “Your faith has made you whole.” What if Paul’s message is as simple as this: no litmus test of faith; no one is asking us to prove our devotion to God; instead, God is asking us to be drawn into the continuous unfolding of God’s grace — and it is God who will help us in our unbelief.

Prayer
Eternal God, lead us into the blessedness of the mystery of communion with thee. Bow our spirits in deepest reverence before thee, yet uplift us into a sense of kinship. Send the spirit of thy Son into our hearts. Amen.

(Prayer excerpt from Samuel McComb, as published in The Meaning of Prayer, Harry Emerson Fosdick and John R. Mott, 1915)

Reflection written by Sarah Forbes Orwig, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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