Recently, I’ve been slowly making my way through Galatians. It’s been a helpful way of following Paul’s train of thought and seeing the context and bigger argument in a book which is full of ubiquitous Christian soundbites.
Paul thought that the believers in Galatia had understood the gospel that he had preached, but now they were being swayed by the arguments of the sinisterly-named ‘circumcision party’ who were demanding that Gentiles adopt the external signs of Judaism in order to be accepted by God. By chapter five, the frustrated and perplexed apostle has worked up a head of steam. Through the red mist, in verse 6, he drops this particular bombshell:
‘For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.’
The issue of circumcision or uncircumcision had, for some of Paul’s contemporaries, become the issue. It was the defining factor in whether or not you were ‘in’ or ‘out’, included or excluded, one of us or one of them. But Paul, even taking into account that this is a passage full of emotive language, considers it irrelevant to the matter at hand. It means nothing to be circumcised. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
The church dropped this struggle over circumcision a long time ago, but sometimes it seems like we’re not really able to get by without some equivalent. I listen to my own voice at times and wonder whether or not it sounds like faith expressing itself through love, or whether it’s just some new circumcision, some new external thing that I’m demanding in order to prove yourself to be the real deal.
What does it sound like to talk about controversial issues, things like immigration and race and sexuality and politics, through the megaphone of ‘faith expressing itself through love’? I think I already know what it sounds like when we talk about those things as though they were circumcision or uncircumcision. I already know what it sounds like when we talk about external displays as though they’re all that really matters.
Lord, give us the wisdom to express our faith through love, and to avoid turning the gospel into nothing more than a new circumcision.
Thanks for that thoughtful piece, James. It’s been awhile since I commented, but I always look forward to your blog landing in my inbox. I’m going to keep this one as a reminder to myself to keep asking that vital question.
Thanks Anne. Keep asking those questions!